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April 24, 2009

HOPE’s volunteers honored at luncheon

By Cristin Ross

cross@jacksonvilleprogress.com

“You know that song “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends?” asked HOPE staff member Shirley Reese. “Well, we get by with a lot of help from our volunteers. We’re very blessed with so many faithful volunteers.”

Reese and the rest of the staff with HOPE (Helping Others Pursue Enrichment) Inc. held the annual Volunteer Appreciation luncheon Thursday to say thanks to the more than 200 county residents and church members that volunteer their time and talents to the HOPE Center’s many programs.

“I like to help people,” New Summerfield resident and frequent HOPE volunteer Berniece Johnson said. “There are lots of elderly people who can’t get around much, and I enjoy helping them out.”

Volunteer Jimmy Reese, Shirley Reese’s husband, joked he had to volunteer with HOPE whether he wants to or not.

“I probably would volunteer for them, even if Shirley wasn’t so involved,” he admitted. “They certainly don’t lack for imagining ways to put people to work. Some people can make volunteering here a full-time job, but not everyone can do that. Even if you can only volunteer one hour a week, that’s enough. The reward is having done it.”

HOPE Executive Director Fran Daniel reported last year, community members volunteered a total 12,055 hours to HOPE.

“A national survey reported that one hour of a volunteer’s time is worth $19.50 to the entity they’re volunteering for,” Daniel said. “So our volunteers’ time is worth $244,850. That’s almost as much as our entire annual operating budget.

“These days, as our donations and grant funds get harder and harder to come by, our volunteers are more and more vital to us everyday,” she said.

HOPE Volunteer Coordinator Betty Ewalt said each of the HOPE Center’s programs just wouldn’t succeed without the volunteers who actually do the “heavy lifting.”

“We do have a paid staff, but we’re so busy with paperwork — finding grants, applying for grants, making sure all the little details of those grants are fulfilled — without the people who care enough to donate their time, the actual work would never get done,” Ewalt said.

That work includes filling backpacks and packing lunches for the Backpack and Brown Bag programs; keeping the Manna Pantry organized; driving the van that’s available to clients for rides to appointments in Jacksonville; serving clients at the Community Kitchen for HOPE; and even maintenance and yard work on the Center’s facilities themselves.

“We just simply could not open our doors without our volunteers,” Ewalt said. “They are such an important part of everything we do here, and I’m so grateful we have so many great ones.”

Anyone interested in volunteering or donating to HOPE, can call the Center, 903-586-7781.

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