Participation in the community, volunteerism, can be done in three capacities all equally commendable and rewarding: direct service, indirect service, and advocacy.
Recognizing a volunteer’s strengths and area of expertise is the key to a successful experience both for the volunteer and the mentoring organization or cause.
Not all of us can dish out meals at the local soup kitchen and that’s OK. Helping to organize the food drive to provide supplies to the soup kitchen is just as helpful. Or working to reform policy that impacts the services or conditions homeless people experience as barriers to help change the root of the problem is also doing your part. Align the volunteer’s skills with the task at hand and do the same for yourself.
Coastal Community Foundation has extended the deadline for 2009 Malcolm D. Haven Award for Selfless Community Giving nominations from Friday, January 23rd to Friday, February 6th. Named for one of the founding members of the Foundation, the Haven award is a prestigious distinction and presented bi-annually to an individual for “Selfless Community Giving” in Charleston, Berkeley, or Dorchester counties. The recipient receives $1,000 to give to a charitable organization of choice and will be recognized at a Foundation-hosted ceremony in April.
