This week (April 15 – 21) is National Volunteer Week.
Established in 1974, National Volunteer Week has grown every year since its inception and now includes the support and endorsement of all subsequent US presidents (click here to read President Obama’s Proclamation) and many governors, mayors, and elected officials throughout the country.
According to National Service Resource Center, National Volunteer Week is about inspiring, recognizing, and encouraging people to seek out imaginative ways to engage in their communities. It’s about demonstrating to the nation that by working together, in unison, we have the fortitude to meet our challenges and accomplish our goals. It’s about taking action, encouraging individuals and their respective communities to be at the center of social change – discovering and actively demonstrating their collective power to foster positive transformation.
The Red Cross would not exist without the support of generous volunteers…an estimated 650,000 volunteers. (There are more Red Cross volunteers than there are residents in Wyoming – crazy, right?)
Red Cross volunteers teach first aid, CPR, water safety and other lifesaving skills; respond to disasters and reconnect families separated by disasters or conflict; support blood drives throughout the country; and help military families both in the United States and overseas.
National Volunteer Week celebrates and recognizes volunteers who take action and solve problems in their communities; ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary things through service. But National Volunteer Week also provides those who might need a gentle push with the perfect opportunity to answer this quiet but important call to serve by becoming a volunteer.
Click here to explore the many volunteer opportunities available with the American Red Cross.