Volunteers: Websters defines volunteer as “A person who enters into any service, or offers his services of his own free will without the stipulation of a reward.”

We participate in a national celebration this week – a celebration to honour volunteers across Canada, and here today to specifically honour the volunteers of Mission Services of London.

National Volunteer Week pays tribute to the millions of Canadian volunteers who graciously donate their time and energy. This year’s 68th annual National Volunteer Week takes place this week – April 10th to 16th. It is Canada’s largest celebration of volunteers, volunteerism, and civic participation.

National Volunteer Week was first proclaimed in 1943 as an initiative to draw the public’s attention to the vital contribution of women to the war effort on the home front. In the late 1960s, the focus was revived and broadened to include all community volunteers.

Jim Flaherty’s budget speech several weeks ago referred to 12.5 million volunteers in Canada. 12.5 million people, The president of Volunteer Canada estimates that volunteers provide 2 billion hours of service annually in Canada. Those are big numbers!

Volunteers: Passion. Action. Impact. is the theme of this year’s national campaign. It is based on the individual ‘volunteer super-heroes’ across Canada who dedicate themselves to making their communities better – and Canada a great place to live. And today our gathering is dedicated to those who want to make our community better, and London a great place to live.

Mission Services of London is proud to be part of the national celebration, and we are honoured to have you here as our guests. For 60 years, volunteers have contributed in a very real way to the operations of Mission Services. In our fiscal year that just ended, from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011, we had approximately 150 volunteers donate 24,500 hours of their time – of YOUR time. The dollar value of those volunteer hours adds up to a lot of money. And if you include the payroll benefits that would be added to that, CPP, EI, WCB, pension plan, the dollar value would be even greater.

As an accountant, I started to calculate what that dollar value would be. But as I did some research on National Volunteer Week, I began to feel very guilty, and realized that my focus on the dollars was detracting from where it should be, the people. I was stopped in my tracks. The president of Volunteer Canada is quoted as saying “”There’s no way to place a dollar value on this kind of service,” “How do you place a value on holding the hand of a dying child or working with your local community minor sports teams? To put a dollar value on these things, would really devalue the importance of volunteers.” Indeed. And as I began thinking about what our volunteers at Mission Services of London do, there is no adequate dollar measurement. In the words of the MasterCard commercial it is priceless.

So what do all those very large numbers mean in Canada? What do those very large numbers mean to Mission Services – 150 volunteers, 24,500 hours in this past fiscal year. And as we celebrate our 60th anniversary, I would guess that over the last 60 years we would be well over 700,000 of volunteer hours, perhaps over 1,000,000 hours. But so what?

Volunteers: Passion, Impact, Action

The “so what” is staggering, and we as an organization are humbled by volunteer generosity.

There is PASSION. It meant that last year Mission Services was able to help over 8,000 people get FREE clothing and small appliances from our store – not just Mission Services clients using our other services, but over 8,000 people referred to us by over 30 other agencies in town, including Salvation Army, John Howard Society, Glen Cairn Resource Centre, My Sister’s Place, Cross Cultural Learning Centre, London Intercommunity Health Centre, St. Paul’s Daily Bread Program and many others.

But even the number 8,000 is too large to comprehend or put into perspective – so to what have you the volunteers contributed? – Bert came into our store earlier this month, referred to us from another agency that I previously mentioned. He had been at another shelter, and he needed some things. So the first time he came in, he received $30 worth of clothing for free – 1 spring jacket, 1 pair of jeans, 1 sweatshirt, 1 pair of pyjamas, 2 pairs of socks and 2 t shirts. He didn’t realize the first time he visited the store that he could get free household articles – so on his second visit volunteers helped him with items he would need for his own apartment – a pot and pot holder (no pans were available), a tea towel and a dish cloth, one plate, one coffee mug, one drinking glass, 3 plastic food storage containers, 1 bath towel, 1 face cloth, 1 bath mat, but no shower curtains because none were available, a casserole dish, a roasting pan and a dish rack. All of these items, sorted and checked by volunteers. The ACTION. The voucher program run by volunteers. Our volunteers lifted the spirits of a neighbour they had never met before. Volunteers, doing community. The IMPACT.

Volunteers mean that men accommodated at the Men’s Mission had a nice yard and fence to walk past as they entered the shelter – because students from UWO did some landscaping and fence painting in the fall. ACTION. For those days when residents had no where else to go, it looked a bit more like a home. And Fanshawe students have helped with indoor painting at QWH. A fresh coat of paint can buoy the spirits when the world is looking pretty dreary. IMPACT.

Volunteers mean that kids who probably would want to be anywhere else on Christmas morning, giggle and cry with excitement when they unwrap a present addressed to them. A present wrapped by someone they may have never met.

Volunteers mean that clients, and even staff, can enjoy a Christmas dinner with “all the fixins” at Quintin Warner House. These heroes at QWH, who battle each and every day with their past and with current cravings, and win. And if because of past circumstances the smell of turkey is not a positive sensory experience, the extended community of QWH, that includes clients, staff and volunteers gives new meaning and new experience to the smell of turkey in the oven. Passion, Action, and Impact! Volunteers who care, volunteers who build community. Volunteers who are community.

Volunteers mean that hundreds of men and women using our Safe Haven drop in have someone to talk to. Someone to look them in the eye and treat them as a person. The Passion! But ‘hundreds’ is a big number too. So what impact does a single volunteer have? The sharing of music, and the making of music. A regular visitor to Safe Haven loves to play the guitar, but an injury and disability prevents him from doing that. After an exchange of words with expletives flying one way, and the questioning of the volunteer’s ability to play the instrument, a volunteer sits and strums a guitar while her new found neighbour plays the chords, and together they make music. The ACTION. Sometimes the volunteer strums too fast, and sometimes too slow, and F bombs explode. But for the moment of a song or two, sometimes just a chord or two, peace is found. The IMPACT. And the volunteer gains a friend, and a protection squad.

And finally, what do volunteers mean to Mission Services of London? They mean that at an elementary school in east London, 6 year old Johnny and his 7 year-old half-sister Kaylee, whose single, unemployed mother living under house arrest and having difficulty providing the necessities, were able to keep a little warmer during this past bitter cold winter, because volunteers knitted the scarves, hats, and mittens that were given to these children through the Warm Hands and Warm Hearts program, that has been operating for 15 years in London. Volunteers who never met these two children, but who had a real, tangible impact on their lives. How would you value that? How could you value that?

The big numbers are impressive. What is more impressive is the smallest number – one. The lyrics of the 1969 song by Three Dog Night, “One is the Loneliest Number” say that “one” is the loneliest of numbers. Sadly for many of the people we serve, one is a very lonely number.

But that is not the full story. And in fact, “one” can be a very special number. We all want to be “number one”. You, our volunteers, help us minister to each “lonely one” who comes to us, and make them “number one”. For a moment each day, you, our volunteers, treat someone you don’t know, and may not even see, as number one. You are loving someone as yourself. And that is making London a great place to live!

The theme of this year’s National Volunteer Week has been playing out for 60 years through the volunteers of Mission Services of London. Passion, Impact, Action. That describes you.

Thank you so much for your participation.

Peter Rozeluk, Executive Director