April is National Volunteer Appreciation Month

The Bergen Volunteer Center hosted Celebrate Volunteers on March 27th, a community-wide event to honor volunteers who help our organizations extend our reach and further our impact.  With 150 volunteers from 16 local nonprofits and companies in attendance, there was no friendlier or warmer room in all of Bergen County.

There are numerous studies and surveys that try to capture the impact of volunteerism.  Some studies record hours and assign a "value," based upon prevailing wages in an attempt to calculate the value of the time donated. Other studies try to quantify the economic benefit to the clients served. However, none of these studies can calculate the value of caring and knowing that someone cares enough to give of themselves and their time.

Agency after agency spoke of the transformative power of caring.  The Thursday hotline volunteer at the Center for Hope and Safety--a warm, caring voice to provide guidance and support to a domestic violence victim; the mentors who let kids and moms know that they are worthy of love; the "mailing ladies" at Flat Rock Brook Nature Center, who fold and label and post mailings year after year; the iTN volunteer, whose schedule this week alone will provide rides to 7 different seniors--and on and on and on....

And every single volunteer in the room said some version of "I get more out of volunteering than I give." Volunteers are the best people in the world.  Thank You--is just a small token of our appreciation.

A big Thank You to our sponsors of the evening, Boiling Springs Savings Bank, Sharp, AARP of New Jersey, Applebee’s, GreenLink Networks and Synetek Solutions.

To learn how to get involved in volunteering please visit bergenvolunteers.org.

The Bergen Volunteer Center turns caring into meaningful action by engaging volunteers to meet community needs.