Recruiting 

We've set a target of forty new volunteers in January. Although we're off to a very good start, we need your help. You are our best recruiters. You know what it means to serve with us and you know how to tell the story. And, you hang out with people just like you, who share your values.

We're revising our volunteer intake process to make it easier for you to send volunteer prospects to us and working harder to make sure we take good care of them when they arrive. Here are several ways you can guide your prospect in: 

• .
• Refer them to this page on our website: http://vvcaregivers.net/volunteer/how-to-volunteer/
• Invite them to attend our next orientation session on the 19th.
• Have them call the office and ask to speak to Roger.
• Have them email Roger.
• Bring them by the office and introduce them.

Please send lots of volunteers who live in Cottonwood! 

Recognition 

It can be a problem to single out individual volunteers for public recognition. Most volunteers don't like being in the limelight. Most of us have very personal reasons for serving; recognition isn't high on the list. No matter how many volunteers receive public recognition, someone is left out and their feelings hurt.

On the other hand, the work you do is very important. It's obvious you make a difference in the lives of people you touch. But it goes deeper. Every service also affects the organization and the community. Often service extends to our neighbor's family. It even impacts local businesses and service providers. Each service, no matter how small it seems, ripples out, changing the world.

That should not go unacknowledged. We all look forward to a world where service to others assumes its rightful place at the center of our culture.

During the coming weeks, we'll be organizing a team to focus on volunteer recognition. Perhaps it'll be hats and pins - could be parties and celebrations. If you'd like to help figure it out, please let us know! 

Training

Our goal is to make learning a part of everything we do. That includes classes such as the ones listed in the sidebar, updated written material online and in hard copy, and more opportunities for volunteers to interact with and learn from each other.

Toward this end, we're launching Volunteer University. The idea is to honor volunteers by providing better support; to set volunteers up to succeed; to learn and pass along best practices; to open the way to continually improving the ways we serve; and to raise the quality of service.

We're excited about the four classes and revamped orientation offered this month, and we look forward to keeping the back room hopping with lively conversations and learning.

To find out more about Volunteer U. and individual learning opportunities, please click on the sidebar links - we're providing much more information on the website and using these newsletters to help you find them. 

Trends

As our neighbors age, their need for support deepens - we've all noticed these changes. Additional requests for service sometimes tax our systems - both pushing the limit of how many service requests we can fill, and challenging our ability to provide the more difficult kinds of service needed or make good referrals.

Over the past two years, plans have gradually been put in place to expand our capacity. The fruit of this hard work is beginning to show up - just in time. Fund-raising efforts are generating more revenue; adjustments to our CARE software program are improving the way we work; the volunteer program is coming to life; collaborative relationships with other organizations are taking shape; our updated website is now online.

Although we anticipate a year of change ahead, we hold tightly to what has worked so well - our mission statement and sticking to it; our reliance on volunteers; and, providing all services free of charge.

On a More Personal Note...

Kent Ellsworth, Executive Director
Roger Wyer, Volunteer Coordinator