Volunteering

I haven't had time in the past couple of weeks to make any posts. We've been dealing with sickness (I think we are all well now), getting back into the school routine and other various "bumps" along the road of life. But most of what I've been doing is volunteering.

Just this morning I attended another training class for yet another GREAT organization ~ Junior Achievement. JA's mission is to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, business and economics to improve the quality of their lives. One of JA's philosophies is to make it relevant. The volunteer is what makes JA relevant. A big part of the program's message to the students is that a grown-up (volunteer) has taken the time to come into their classroom and spend time with them. This process provides the students with a real-life example of how important volunteerism is to our communities.

Without volunteers, our communities wouldn't be what they are. There are numerous non-profit organizations that provide services that we wouldn't have access to without them. Our children reap the benefits of huge amounts of volunteer hours in our schools. The school districts don't have enough funding to pay enough people to do what the volunteers do. Hospital patients reap the benefits of large amounts of volunteer hours. Some kids get to play sports thanks to volunteers like the veterans of The American Legion who sponsor The American Legion baseball program. Needless to say, the list goes on and on and on.

So, to steal a quote from a volunteer friend of mine - "Volunteers aren't paid because they are worthless, but because they are priceless!" ~ Anonymous

THANK YOU to all of the volunteers!

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