International Volunteer Day: Grateful is an Understatement
December 5, 2022
From the desk of Tim Farrell, CEO:
How does one appropriately express gratitude to those who do so much without asking for anything in return?
Take United Through Reading volunteer Cori Trumbull for instance. Cori is a military spouse who has adopted #UTR as a mission to which she devotes her valuable time, energy, and passion. As one of our most visible, committed, and impactful volunteers, Cori humbly but so proudly shares her why “It’s so awesome to be able to help out and see these kiddos’ faces light up when they hear that they can have more books.”
Is our gratitude for Cori profound enough? I hope we express it sufficiently.
And how about CS2(SW) Frankie Hard? UTR recognized Frankie at last month’s Storybook Ball for his 200+ hours volunteering aboard ship and ashore since 2019, and who led the way for the Sailors and Marines on the USS Essex to record more than 600 stories during their most recent deployment, connecting them to the children in their lives, #NoMatterTheDistance. Frankie deflects credit for his incredible volunteer service, simply but profoundly stating about witnessing such recordings, “During my most recent deployment, I had several encounters where the service members, both Navy and Marines from pay grades of E1 to O6, who cried with joy telling me how much easier this made their deployment.”
Can we thank volunteers like Frankie enough? We sure try to!
The companies and grantmaking foundations whose generosity of resources fuels UTR’s mission not only give of their financial assets, but of their time and their hearts. Here’s a cross section of such impact:
- Veterans United Foundation, which was founded and is funded by Veterans United Home Loan employees, supported 4,800 kits containing storytime resources so Natinoal Guard members from 18 states could stay connected with their children while far from home. These employees not only help fund this project, but they volunteered to help distribute the kids to families in Missouri and North Carolina during the April 2022 Month of the Military Child.
- Today, BAE Systems Inc. staff members teamed with UTR as our Mobile Story Station traveled to Radford VA’s Belle Heth Elementary School, lighting up the faces of so many children, teachers, and military parents. In Washington, DC the week prior, employees helped wrap the books to make this book gift even more special.
- USAA volunteers share storytime nationwide on a regular basis at the Air Force Academy Child Development Center in Colorado Springs, with Arizona National Guard families at their Phoenix Yellow Ribbon event, and wherever USAA employees live and work.
- Carter’s Inc. volunteers worked tirelessly behind the scenes during Month of the Military Child at their distribution center in Atlanta and in their Sports Arena Blvd store in San Diego, sorting, labeling, and shipping books and postcards for events in Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, Colorado, California, and Hawaii. Carter’s’ focus on literacy is a manifest in their employees’ volunteer joy, and the joy they pass on to military kids.
This is but a small cross section of UTR’s growing corporate volunteer partnerships. Are we appreciative enough, as a company and a nation? We hope so.
As United Through Reading reviews its strategic plan, including our core values, we’re rightfully prioritizing gratitude for such volunteerism. It’s one of the reasons why we’re so proud to join with the United Nations, and nonprofits all around the globe, in celebrating International Volunteer Day (IVD) today. IVD 2022 celebrates “…solidarity through volunteering, highlighting the collective humanity to drive positive change through volunteerism.” We at United Through Reading couldn’t agree more!
To say we’re grateful is an understatement.