by Adriana Carr, MPA
Senior Center Director
Arlington County Department of Parks & Recreation
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands - one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” – Audrey Hepburn.
Just about
anyone who works with volunteers will agree that they are the reason the
program is a success; the work gets done; they are backbone of the organization
and so on and so on. It’s hard to imagine
the daily grind without them. The
benefits are reciprocal because volunteering also has a positive impact on the
volunteer in a variety of ways.
According to research
conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service “older
volunteers report lower mortality and depression rates, fewer physical
limitations, and higher levels of well-being. (2015)”.
Other researchers
found that the benefits of volunteering affect various aspects of a person’s
life such as social, physical, emotional health. For example, older adults who had few
opportunities for social interactions in their lives found that volunteering
increased their opportunities for friendship and the socializing helped to
improve their self-perception. This same study connected social health to
improved emotional and physical health. I
would suggest that keeping these ideas in mind may also help us manage our
volunteers and volunteer programs better.
Take a look
at how your volunteer program affects your volunteers. They are certainly helping you out. So think
about how you can support your volunteers with a multi-dimensional approach. Go
beyond the usual
recognition activities and take the 7 dimensions of well-being
into consideration to make your volunteer program a holistic one. Affirming someone’s worth in the community,
helping them remain vital and connected is the foundation of most of our work
with our clients/participants. It would
be natural to extend that approach to our volunteers.
Some
examples of whole person volunteer management from around the Old Dominion
include:
In the
Norfolk area, Hope
Lomax Jones of Recreation, Parks and Open Spaces Senior Programs tells us that
older adults help out as volunteers all the time, especially during large
city-wide events like Senior Olympics and Grand Parents Day Events. Additionally, the volunteers are “either
intrigued or feel a sense of empowerment that we value the use of their skills.”
This also adds excitement to the event and helps to generate interest.
In Loudoun
County, volunteers are a vital component of senior center operations and
programs. Cheryl Wheeler of The Senior Center of
Leesburg tells me that that volunteers share their time as Advisory board
members, front desk and library staff; kitchen assistance, concierges who give
tours, hospitality help, class instructors, kitchen servers and delivering
meals to homes. One special group, the
Community Ambassadors provides a grassroots effort to enhance safety among the
seniors in the community.
Volunteers
not only help us do our jobs; they strengthen our connection with our
communities. If you take whole approach
to developing your recreational programming, increase its value by implementing
whole person management techniques with your volunteers.
Join the
conversation by telling us what your volunteer management style is.
