Volunteer to enjoy the spring season

By Nicole Lucht

Friday, April 10, 2009 | 2 a.m.

As Las Vegas’ delightful spring weather visits us for a few brief weeks, you, your colleagues or your employees may be tempted to play hooky.

Feeling like a bird or a caged animal that paces back and forth, workers often feel strapped to their desks or stuck at a workstation this time of year, looking for any excuse to go outside (save the sniffling allergy sufferers).

So why not channel that urge to be outdoors and volunteer some of your company’s time to doing some good for the community?

How about organizing a cleanup at Lake Mead National Recreation Area or Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area? Or maybe calling up Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and see if they need any dogs walked?

There are, of course, indoor volunteer activities, such as working the line at a soup kitchen, and activities that require little effort, such as an in-office drive for canned food or clothing.

If you need a better excuse than the weather, consider that National Volunteer Week begins April 19. This year’s theme is “Celebrating People in Action.”

Las Vegas had an average volunteer rate of 14.7 percent, or 203,000 volunteers who gave 27.2 million hours per year in 2007, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service, an independent federal agency.

That amounted to estimated annual economic contribution of $532 million, the agency said.

The government site links to networkforgood.org and has several volunteer opportunities available, depending on the interest.

United Way of Southern Nevada has made it a lot easier to volunteer. Last July it acquired the Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada and in October, it launched volunteercentersn.org to help individuals and businesses connect with volunteer opportunities.

There are already 800 volunteer opportunities for the next six months on the site for 100 nonprofit organizations, all that have been vetted by the center, said Robin Kelley, the center’s director.

The center has seen an increase in volunteer activity lately. In March, the center had more than 1,100 active volunteers.

“I think everyone is more interested in volunteering,” she said.

If a company is interested in volunteering and doesn’t know where to start, she suggested polling its employees to find out where their interests are.

If their passion is in helping the elderly, for instance, spend some time at a nursing home or hospice.

The business should also consider what it wants to accomplish by volunteering, from building morale to making a difference in the community it serves.

Kelley will send a team member to a business to help it assess its volunteering goals, she said.

She noted that there is a changing trend in the way that people and businesses volunteer. Instead of focusing on one organization, she said many volunteers are looking for a potpourri of experiences, maybe one month collecting dog food, the next month cleaning the grounds at the Las Vegas Indian Center.

That, she said, is ideal because volunteers have the opportunity to learn about the organizations while they work.

It’s not all hard labor either. In April listings included helping with craft projects at the Blind Center of Nevada and writing grant proposals for the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada.

In other news:

It was quite the dinner for regional food bank Three Square.

During its gala fundraiser, Dish, at the Springs Preserve, the Donald Reynolds Foundation announced a $9.4 million grant for the completion of a second Three Square building on North Pecos Road.

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the Lincy Foundation also announced donations of $2.5 million each to complete Three Square’s capital campaign during the gala.

“We are pleased to be able to provide funding to complete Three Square’s current capital campaign,” Reynolds Foundation Chairman Fred Smith said in a statement. “Particularly during this incredibly challenging economic time, hunger is a growing problem. We can’t think of a better organization than Three Square to meet the need head-on.”

The 70,000-square-foot building will be adjacent to facility it is already operating from. The new building is expected to house a working kitchen, a demonstration kitchen and a community room. The other half of the building will be warehouse space, a volunteer room, an agency store and administrative offices.

Nicole Lucht covers health care, workplace and banking issues for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-8832 or at [email protected].