I hope everyone is having a great and safe summer. Don’t forget that there are many volunteer opportunities available in Randolph County to enhance your summer fun while participating in our country’s “United We Serve” campaign.

President Obama and his current administration have called the American people to summer volunteer service. The “United We Serve” campaign kicked off June 22 and will last for 81 days to a new National Day of Service and Remembrance on Sept. 11.

The campaign was started by the administration as a way for Americans to step up and tackle the problems they face in their communities from the economic downturn we have all felt over the past year. The biggest way we can help Randolph County is to get up and get involved.

Many of those services that are being cut back due to economic downturn could be supplemented with skilled volunteers. This is the time for individuals within our community that can offer a special skill to a particular non-profit organization to step up and commit some time to strengthen our community.

For example, skilled nurses are needed at Hospice of Randolph County and more area veterinarians could participate with the Humane Society of Randolph County.

The Edward M. Kennedy Act signed by President Obama on April 21 will further develop our national service programs and will strongly promote social innovation and Volunteer Management in the non-profit area of our country.

If our community can embrace this initiative set forth by our current administration, the impact could be immense. We would see more of our non-profits supplementing their budget shortfalls with volunteers. The Volunteer Center of Randolph County supports The Randolph County Volunteer Council (RCVC), which is the number one source in our community to provide training on Basic Volunteer Management.

RCVC can be a tool for your organization to get started in accepting and retaining volunteers. It is a free service for anyone interested in managing volunteers within our community.

United We Serve also calls out to those individuals in our country to organize friends, family and neighbors to develop service projects to address your area’s needs.

For example, we have a church in our community that takes on a week-long project every fall. They use The Volunteer Center of Randolph County to look for some of their service projects and for that week members of their congregation donate time to various projects throughout Randolph County. Other members of our community have organized community gardens and community watch programs to take their neighborhoods back.

The Web site www.serve.gov is a place non-profits and volunteers can visit to sign up or search for local volunteer opportunities. The Volunteer Center of Randolph County is in the process of posting our current volunteer opportunities for those who want to be a part of this initiative. Disregarding politics, we all need to find some time to break out of our daily routines and assist our community through these difficult times.

Call The Volunteer Center of Randolph County at 626-6643 or e-mail me at amy@uwrandolph.org for a list of opportunities in our community.



Amy Byrd is coordinator of the Volunteer Center of Randolph County, a program of United Way.