Volunteer

Given my volunteer history of giving for nearly 30 years, it's not surprising that I was lassoed and hog tied, along with three others, to serve on the NewComers Club of Greater Charlottesville's Community Outreach Committee.  Actually, the experience has been quite rewarding and I truly enjoy my monthly committee meeting with partners in crime, Tory (our leader) and Sylvia.

Our task is to identify one day (or less) community service projects.  Over the last year we have participated in a variety of projects (which keeps it fun and interesting).  Some tasks clerical, many super easy, others requiring a little bit of manual labor.  None requiring too much brain or back power!

Just one cart load of many that were delivered!

I was fortunate to help the Hospital Auxiliary at UVA Hospital with their annual Daffodil Day.  Each Spring, a sweet bud vase of Daffodils is distributed to every hospital patient and many reception desks.  This year nearly 500 vases were created and delivered by volunteers.  Patients at UVA come from all corners of the US.  Not everyone has someone locally to visit with them so getting a bouquet hopefully brightens their day.  I tied bows on the vases while the Hospital Auxiliary delivered.

The Bag Ladies and one Dude.

Another opportunity was to help the local Meals on Wheels program clean their food travel bags.  It's a dirty job but Keith the Volunteer Coordinator made it fun for us by giving us the official title of "Bag Ladies".  We scrubbed down 60 bags in under 1.5 hours!  They just served their one millionth meal and are the only hot meal service for our city/county.

A special upcoming project for Community Outreach is our annual trip out to Camp Holiday Trails to help prepare for Summer visitors.  We'll split up into am and pm shifts to clean, garden, and help however we can.  A camp for children with special health needs, this is truly a deserving group of our help.  If you are a newcomer, we still need volunteers to signup for this team effort next Wednesday, April 17.

The Bag Ladies gettin' down and dirty.

I'm so happy to be a very small part of this committee.  There are an unlimited number of volunteer needs in our community.  If you are new to the area, I can't think of a better way to meet people and get to know your community.  If we each give a little a lot can be done!

-Rebecca