Volunteerism
Whether you call it volunteering serving the community or simply being neighborly, the tradition of helping others has always been an integral part of life in America.
From the time of the earliest settlers, people have come together to help meet basic human needs. Farmers helped each other gather crops and build barns. Concerned parents supplied logs, stone, bricks and labor to build schools for their children.
Religious congregations helped to build their places of worship and then ministered to those in need in their communities. Ethnic groups banded together for mutual support and socialization.
Volunteerism has been a strong tradition in Schuylkill County. Generation after generation, some families serve proudly in their community’s volunteer fire companies.
Many of the service clubs, such as the Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis, Elks and others, have long histories of helping their communities. Some have recently established successful youth clubs in the area high schools, encouraging teens to get involved in tackling problems on their own, or working with their adult counterparts to make their communities better places to live.
Volunteers are also in abundance coaching sports teams, advising religious-based youth groups. They help at soup kitchens and food pantries. They tutor children and illiterate adults. Some visit our elderly citizens or deliver Meals on Wheels. Others organize fund-raisers for nonprofit organizations, or for a family struggling with a devastating illness or fire.
In fact, anywhere there is a need in the community, volunteers have stepped in to lend a hand - and continue to do so.
It is impossible to count the number of people who volunteer in Schuylkill County. The depth and breadth of this volunteer activity earned Schuylkill County one of 10 National Make a Difference Day Award for participation in 1999, and an Encore Award for 2000. Organizers estimate that in the eight years between 196 and 2003, more than 400 groups and individuals completed more than 900 projects for Make a Difference Day. In the process, they made life better for thousands of their fellow residents.
Volunteering – or community service has become a requirement for graduation from some of the county’s high schools. Minersville Area, North Schuylkill, Shenandoah Valley, Schuylkill Haven Area, Cardinal Brennan, Marian and Nativity BVM high schools require it.
Other schools encourage member of the National Honor Society, service clubs or other groups to volunteer in their communities.
Two organizations in Schuylkill County help connect people with meaningful volunteers opportunities.
For 20 years, the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) has matched people age 55 or over with opportunities in non-profit organizations, schools and hospitals. RSVP also collaborates with other organizations to sponsor environmental projects and programs that address health and safety issues for senior citizens.
Since 1995, Community Volunteers in Action, the county’s volunteer center, has linked groups and individuals of all ages to agencies and organizations that need their help. It also promotes volunteering through Make A Difference Day. It conducts training for managers of volunteers, and collaborates with other groups to help solve social problems through the active involvement of volunteers.
No matter what size or age or educational or ethnic background, residents of Schuylkill County reach out to their neighbors in need, continuing the long tradition of volunteering that former generation began back in the 1700s.
