Thursday night, I had the honor of attending a dinner hosted by New River Community Action, honoring the many volunteers and community partners that provide valuable services to those in need around the area.  NRCA serves more than 12000 individuals around the New River Valley each year, dealing with a range of issues.  Poverty and hunger are not acceptable conditions in ANY community, and NRCA is working hard to address those issues.

That's what this dinner was about.

I was amazed at the completely selfless works that these volunteers were committing to the mission of New River Community Action.  Story after story was told of the tireless efforts of these folks – in one case, a woman (and I WISH I could remember her name to honor her) had committed more than 3400 volunteer hours in 2007.  Almost 40% of her year was spent volunteering.  We honored with a scholarship a young mother who had recently graduated from Floyd High School, and was going on to work in natural science and biology.  We honored Americorps volunteers … grandmothers … grandfathers … individuals just like you and me, who were doing amazing work.

Did you know …

• in 2007, 1.6 million Virginians donated more than 286 million volunteer hours?
• those 286 million volunteer hours equate to a $4 billion benefit to Virginia's economy?
• there's a service called 2-1-1 that you can call to get answers to all kinds of questions?

I found it amazing that last year, 2-1-1 fielded 24000 calls related to mental health issues.  TWENTY FOUR THOUSAND calls! 

We are blessed in the New River Valley to have organizations like New River Community Action.  These folks are working selflessly to give back … how will YOU give back?  Will you pledge to donate not just your money in 2008 to programs like New River Community Action, but also your time?  Can Virginia provide more than 300 million volunteer hours in 2008?

Anything's possible.  Call New River Community Action at 540-633-5133 to find out where your talents might be best used.  Give back … I bet you'll receive so much more in return.

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