The impact of volunteering in Charlotte

After telling a friend about Hands On Charlotte Day recently, I was intrigued with one of first questions. “So what is the impact of a day like that,” he asked. What is the impact of cleaning up school grounds, building a new set of benches or helping to organize donations? What are my three hours worth?

Oh, how I wish there were a simple, two-sentence answer. I wish there were a matrix I could show him: one hour equals 7.32 people served; two hours equals 16.14 clients served; three hours… If only the non-profit world had such answers. If only we had such great matrices. Alas, we do not.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have answers to these questions. In fact, we do have answers. For example:

• School grounds can impact academic performance. Zach Miners, in a recent article for District Administration, outlined the substantial effects that school gardens and clean school grounds can have student performance. These spaces can become outdoor classrooms, perfect for science lessons and inquiry-based learning. “Every kid dives right in,” the article quoted Sandra Antalis, an elementary curriculum manager in Houston. “When you’re outside in one of these areas, it’s hard not to start investigating.” At Hands On Charlotte Day, we will be planting school gardens and cleaning up school grounds. Want to give a kid a place to learn about science? Join us for Hands On Charlotte Day.


• Volunteering can have direct and substantial impact on the volunteer’s self-worth and self-confidence. We all hear that volunteering makes people feel good. But over the last few years, psychologists and researchers have shown this to be true in very concrete terms. For example, a recent study in the journal Social Behaviour charted the ways that volunteering increases notions of self-worth and confidence in people. The more people volunteer, the better they feel about themselves and the more they decide to engage their communities in other ways. Have you thought about volunteering but haven’t ever had the opportunity? Hands On Charlotte Day is a perfect way to get started! Come join us this Saturday.

My friend’s question is a good one. Why should he volunteer? While we can point to studies about the impact of volunteering, the best answers, I think, come from our own personal stories. Over the next week, we are going to put a few of our own personal stories about volunteering, and what it has meant to us. If you’re looking to start gaining these experiences for yourselves, please join us for Hands On Charlotte Day.

Hands On Charlotte Day is this Saturday. Sign up goes through Friday, October 15. Please visit the Web site for more details.

Volunteering and September 11th

When the humidity recedes and the sky turns bright blue, the memories start to return. It was a beautiful morning here in Charlotte. I was excited to take my almost two-year-old son to his first real day of pre-school. As I drove to drop him off, I heard on the radio that a small plane had flown into the World Trade Center. When I got back home, I turned on the television and learned it was so much worse.

We all have a story like that. It is not hard to remember the anguish, the fear and the slow realization that our country would never be the same. But remembering doesn’t seem like enough… at least to me and to many others.

That’s why September 11 has been named a National Day of Service and Remembrance. In Charlotte and around the country, more than 5 million citizens will give of themselves and serve as a living memorial to those lost. To find out more, please go to http://www.911dayofservice.org/ .

Need motivation to give your time? How about the memory of firefighters and police who ran towards the burning buildings to rescue people they did not know. And remember the passengers on Flight 93, who gave their lives to save others that they did not know. What will you do?

Will you collect food, school supplies, or clothing for people in need you will never meet? Will you give blood in memory of those who gave their lives? Will you clean a park so other people’s children have a safe place to play? Will you help set up a shelter for homeless women and children?

Hands On Charlotte has lots of volunteer projects to choose from on 9/11/10. You can find out more at our Web site. But I also encourage you to create your own personal ways of honoring the memory of this day, those who were lost and the heroes that emerged. Let’s make sure that 9/11 never becomes just another day.

-Lisa Quisenberry, Consulting Executive Director, Hands On Charlotte