April is National Volunteer Month
Some researchers believe there is a positive relationship between happiness and volunteering. During National Volunteer Month and with the help of VolunteerMatch, Laboratory employees can put this theory to the test.
The Community Programs Office (CPO) recently launched a partnership with VolunteerMatch, a network of nonprofit organizations that helps match people who want to volunteer with organizations who need them.
VolunteerMatch offers a variety of online services, including a searchable database that allows nonprofits to list volunteer opportunities and potential volunteers to find activities that interest them. It also allows employees, contractors, and retirees to track when, where, and how often they volunteer, explained Lillian Montoya-Rael, Community Programs Office director (see the February 7 Daily NewsBulletin for more information).
More than 200 employees have registered with VolunteerMatch and used the system to log more than 3,000 hours since the initiative began.
VolunteerMatch has already made an impact on the community according to Cindy Whiting of the Los Alamos Community Development Center. “VolunteerMatch has really helped us recruit new volunteers. It has been very successful in telling people about opportunities for volunteering at the Los Alamos Visitor’s Center,” she said. “During the first couple of weeks after the program was announced, we received an unprecedented number of new volunteers.”
Montoya-Rael added, “It is important for Lab employees to log their volunteer hours because we can study that data to understand what areas might be underserved. Logging hours also helps the Lab demonstrate that it is a good neighbor and offers justification for providing services like VolunteerMatch to employees.”
Employees who want to participate in the VolunteerMatch program can go to http://volunteermatch.lanl.gov online to register.
For more information about the VolunteerMatch program, or to arrange for a ten-minute presentation about VolunteerMatch, call the Community Programs Office at 5-4400 or write to volunteermatch@lanl.gov by electronic mail.
