I recently had the opportunity to visit with the new CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Smith County, Robert Manley. Habitat has a permanent endowment fund at ETCF known as the Jack Wilson Legacy Endowment Fund.
It is a regular occurrence for me to meet with new local nonprofit executives like Robert, and talk about their fund, and give them some background on how it was established and how our organization supports local nonprofits.
During our conversation, he was sharing his experience working with various community revitalization projects in the Dallas area. It reminded me of an experience I had in high school when our church youth group traveled to West Dallas to work on a clean-up project at a local apartment complex. We didn’t really know the reason or the importance of what we were doing, but we could paint, so that is what we did. It was very simple. Someone with the West Dallas Initiative had connected with our church, expressed a need, and we were deployed to meet that need.
Flash forward to a recent occasion I had to accompany members of my child’s youth group to the East Texas Food Bank. I have had several occasions to visit the East Texas Food Bank over the years, to meet with the board and tour the facility, but prior to this visit, I had not had an occasion to actually work as a volunteer.
My experience was excellent. The staff at the East Texas Food Bank was extremely well organized and they were able to quickly train and mobilize 150 youth to complete productive tasks that further their mission. If I recall correctly, in just two hours we were able to assemble over 900 food boxes for seniors, prepare over 2,000 packets of food for children, and package over 2,000 pounds of rice and beans into family serving sizes.
The investments made at the food bank in recent years to create the volunteer work area, returned huge dividends as our youth worked efficiently, safely and productively in the space provided by generous donors. They had so much fun being together, they probably didn’t realize the importance of their work in the monumental effort to feed our neighbors who are in need.
As Robert and I continued our conversation about the work at Habitat for Humanity, we discussed the role of former President Jimmy Carter as he gave generously of his time to build homes for the global nonprofit that started 10 miles from his home in Plains, Georgia. Those same opportunities that President Carter had, are available to anyone in our area as Habitat works to renovate existing homes and build new homes for families in our communities. In fact, many other organizations in our area rely on the steady work of volunteers. Whether you are swinging a hammer, sewing a layette, packaging rice, teaching an adult learner, greeting patients or sorting clothes, there is probably a nonprofit organization that could use your time and talents.
If you are not sure where to find a volunteer opportunity, the website www.easttexasgivingday.org is a good place to start your search. For example, on the East Texas Food Bank volunteer opportunity tab on the East Texas Giving Day site, you can learn that volunteers donated over 32,000 hours to fight hunger last year. You can also find a link to learn more about the various tasks available, and schedule a time to go serve. Last year, over 360 organizations participated in East Texas Giving Day, and many of them provided descriptions of the types of volunteers they need. Nonprofits are in the process of completing their giving day profiles for this year’s annual, online fundraising event to be held April 29. As more nonprofits register and complete their profiles, more volunteer opportunities will be available at your fingertips to research.
As I walked in to the East Texas Food Bank with a group of ninth-grade boys, perhaps one of the least likely groups on the planet you might guess would be thinking about others, I was really encouraged to hear one of the students sharing his excitement about the task before them. He was explaining to his buddies that he had volunteered at the food bank many times, and assured them that they would enjoy the experience.
My encouragement to you is, if a ninth-grade boy can get excited about volunteering, surely you can too! Perhaps signing up for a shift at the East Texas Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity or any number of other local charities that rely on volunteers, could be your next best opportunity to Give Well.
