This transcript was exported on Dec 16, 2021 - view latest version here.
trusted to do more good in the community. I do believe that United Way still is strong and carries a form of respect around various communities and what they can do. And so, definitely looking forward to seeing more growth, especially in this virtual environment that we found ourselves living in, and how to reach out beyond the traditional models like you were saying that, but certainly I think that umbrella ability to corral multiple needs under one and be able to represent as a whole is a strength for United Way also.
Reggie Hammond: Sure. Mary Bickerstaff: I'd like-
Reggie Hammond: Is there anything... Go ahead, Mary.
Mary Bickerstaff: I'd like to ask a question. I have volunteered in the past for different events with United Way, but what are some of the other volunteering opportunities available to individuals? Matt Atkins: That's a good question. So, we did have the Day of Caring, which is probably where you found yourself volunteering. And what we would do is kind of coordinate one day a year, and have really a tremendous amount of participation from various organizations. Unfortunately, that sort of fizzled out over a few years, and I don't know that we've really done a good job of bringing that back. So, we have tried to focus more on individualized volunteering opportunities. And what we do is we learn from our pool of volunteers, what they're most interested in, where their passions are, and then try to connect you with whatever opportunities look right for you as an individual or as a group. If a corporation or business wants to have a day of volunteering, we try to make sure that we're connecting that business where their passions are because we may want them, or we may have an organization or somebody in the community that needs their facility painted. Well, you may not want to go paint at the Lily Pad or something like that. Matt Atkins: And so, Shawna and her team, I think do a really good job of trying to put volunteers in the right spot. Admittedly, we're still rebuilding that volunteering activity. And so, it's not as robust as what we want it to be, but I think it is a really key piece of how we move forward in the community. Because as we think about like Albany State, those students, they may not have a lot of money to give to the community, but that's okay, they've got a lot of opportunities to volunteer and a lot of desire to do good in our community. And so, it's really a good opportunity for United Way to try to coordinate some of those resources, but also just for the community as a whole. So, I think, I don't know if that fully answers your question, but if you're interested in volunteering opportunities, Mary, whether that's you, the Chamber, other businesses coming to the Chamber, looking for those opportunities, if we can just be aware of them, we'll get people in the right spots and connected with the right resources, of that I'm confident.
UWSWGA - SOAR Focus Group 1 (Completed 11/16/21) Transcript by Rev.com
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