Family Volunteer Day Comes to Maryland

Volunteer Centers across Maryland and the National Points of Light Foundation are challenging all Maryland families to get creative to find quality time by working together as a unit to volunteer. The results are rewarding not only for the organizations that benefit from their service, but also for the families themselves.

“The Family Volunteer Movement is quite powerful,” says Fay Mauro, chair, Maryland Volunteer Centers, a statewide association representing 14 volunteer centers, and executive director of Volunteer Center for Anne Arundel County, Annapolis. “Families work together on volunteer projects and strengthen their communities while also strengthening their families through improved communications, sharing quality time and bonding in a different way,” she adds.

Family volunteering benefits

The benefits of family volunteering have been documented through numerous studies and data collected by focus groups. In 2002 the Center for Urban Policy and the Environment facilitated a process evaluation of the implementation of the FAMILY MATTERS initiative of the Points of Light Foundation. Several themes immerged relating to the benefits of family volunteering, including:

• Brings the family closer together

• Value system strengthened by volunteering; children see parents are involved

• Builds extended family among youth and other youth as well as youth and adults

• Get something back from volunteering; self-satisfaction; makes you feel good

• Strength in numbers; family gets more done than individual

• Benefits to youth—such as helps with job and college applications

• Children see how lucky they are

• Positive influence on the people they help

• Fun; social; gives children/youth something to do

  Family volunteering can be a creative way for you to discover that elusive “quality time” with your children while also contributing to your community. For more information on how you can help in your community, please contact your local Volunteer Center listed on this website or www.1-800-volunteer.org.

The Maryland Volunteer Center (MVC) Association is one of 23 state volunteer associations in the nation. MVC represents 14 volunteer centers in Maryland, which serve nearly 5 million Marylanders annually by connecting 30,000 volunteers and training an additional 4,000 people to serve 2,700 non-profit agencies throughout the state. Each year more than 17,000 volunteer opportunities are facilitated through the state’s volunteer centers.

Nationally, more than 388 volunteer centers operate across the country, serving more than 192 million Americans by connecting 2.5 million volunteers and training more than 148,000 people to serve more than 79,000 organizations throughout the country. Each year more than a half million opportunities are promoted through the nation’s volunteer centers.

Volunteer centers are organized in a national network, which works in partnership with the Points of Light Foundation, a Washington, D.C. based organization, which advocates community service.