Volunteer Agency Celebrates 25 Years Of Service To The Region

By Jan Howard

The Volunteer Center Serving Western Connecticut has begun a celebratory campaign to highlight its 25 years of assisting non-profits, area businesses, civic organizations, and individuals to experience volunteerism.

The Volunteer Center, located at 54 Main Street in Danbury, serves Danbury and seven neighboring towns, including Newtown.

The “25 for the 25th” campaign was kicked off in April during National Volunteer Week at a meeting of the Corporate Volunteer Council, which is made up of corporations and businesses interested in promoting volunteerism in their companies, according to Volunteer Center Executive Director Karen Annoni.

The campaign to promote volunteerism, Ms Annoni said, came out of an earlier meeting of the Volunteer Center’s advisory committee.

“We chose to kick it off at the Corporate Volunteer Council because its members are big supporters. It seemed appropriate because it was National Volunteer Month,” she said.

“We are asking residents to give 25 hours of their time for the 25th,” Ms Annoni said. “We’re looking for people willing to do new volunteer opportunities. It shouldn’t be something they have been doing for five years or through a service club. It’s meant to be a new venture. We’re looking for someone with a new idea for a volunteer effort.”

Pledge cards and guidelines are available by contacting the Volunteer Center at 203/797-1154, or on the Web site at www.volunteerindanburyarea.org or by e-mail at info@volunteerindanburyarea.org.

The campaign ends on October 25 when the Volunteer Center will hold a community-wide event to recognize all volunteers.

“For anyone starting some new volunteer venture, we want to recognize them and give them credit,” she said.

Other activities will be held throughout the year to call the public’s attention to the value of volunteering.

The Volunteer Center matches people with a program, Ms Annoni said. “We get the word out on volunteer opportunities and try to find the right place for someone with the time they have available.

“We walk them through some options,” Ms Annoni said of prospective volunteers.

The Volunteer Center has volunteer opportunities for young people interested in helping others during the summer, Ms Annoni said

Non-profit agencies and other community service organizations often contact the Volunteer Center looking for volunteers, Ms Annoni said. They fill out forms listing the job description, time commitment, and background of the agency. These opportunities are also published in a weekly column in The News-Times.

According to a Volunteer Center brochure, volunteering among adults has increased significantly over the past ten years. Nationwide, an estimated 109 million adults, or 56 percent, volunteered in 1998. However, at the same time, the amount of time people spent volunteering declined slightly. The 109 million adults gave a total of 19.9 billion hours, an average of 3.5 hours a week, in contrast to 93 million who contributed 20.3 billion hours in 1995, an average of 4.2 hours a week. More than eight out of ten people said they volunteered because they felt compassion for those in need.

Thirteen million teens, more than half of America’s teen population, volunteered in 1995, giving an estimated 3.5 hours per week, totaling 2.4 billion hours of volunteer time.

Ms Annoni, whose affiliation with the Volunteer Center began in 1983 as a volunteer, is its only full-time employee. She became the executive director in 1996. There are 10 part-time employees who work from ten to 28 hours a week, she said.

The Volunteer Center keeps growing, Ms Annoni said. It was organized by Carol Mitchell in 1975 under the sponsorship of the Community Action Committee of Danbury, Association of Religious Communities, and Danbury Area United Social Services. In 1979 it relocated from space in CACD’s office to 337 Main Street and opened part time under the management of a volunteer executive director. In 1982 Bobbie Feinson became the first paid executive director and hours were expanded from 15 to 20 per week. It moved to its current location in 1996.

In addition to volunteer recruitment, its programs and services include a management assistance program, which recruits business and professional volunteers to share their expertise with non-profit agencies; Friendly Visitor and Tele-Care that matches trained volunteers with at-home, at-risk seniors for weekly visits or telephone reassurance calls; volunteer recognition; promotion of volunteerism; and training for agency boards of directors and Friendly Visitor/Tele-Care volunteers through workshops.

It also offers Directors of Volunteers in Agencies (DOVIA), which promotes volunteer administration through workshops, educational programs, and a forum for exchange of ideas for volunteer coordinators; Corporate Volunteer Council, which assists corporations in promoting volunteers among employees; and Community Restitution Programs, which provide court-ordered juveniles and adults with appropriate community service placement.

The Volunteer Center is funded through the United Way of Northern Fairfield County. Its Friendly Visitor program has been funded for 15 years through a grant from the Housatonic-Shepaug United Way.

Between July 1, 1998, and June 30, 1999, the Volunteer Center helped 1,293 people help others as volunteers in the community. Eighty-seven Newtown residents volunteered during that time period.

In addition, the Volunteer Center supported 84 group projects involving 846 volunteers, 47 group drives for food, clothes, and other necessities, and 509 adult placements through the court-ordered community service program.

Individually and in groups, through one-time and long-term commitments, these volunteers assisted 175 non-profit agencies throughout Western Connecticut in meeting community needs.

For volunteer opportunities or to suggest a new program for the 25th celebration, call the Volunteer Center Monday through Friday at 203/797-1154.