The Gift of service

Volunteering--Giving of yourself, your time and talents to our communities

From Deb Tanner, Southern RIVolunteers

Unfortunately, The Media, both national and local bring to our homes images of human suffering every day.  When we see people struggling through personal tragedy after a home fire, weather related issues like floods, tornadoes, or hurricanes most of us think I wish I could help in some way.  

It’s reality that our neighbors sometimes need our help.   Nationally, there are many organizations that ask for our financial help.  What if we can’t help financially though, but we could help with our time, our talents and skills?  You could do that right here in our county.  Across our communities in Washington County our neighbors are in need every day. 

So what can you do?  That depends on what kind of time commitment you want to make.  So here are some options for you to consider during this holiday season when so many of us consider our giving:

• One hour a week you could visit with an older citizen who is isolated in our rural county.  
• You might talk sports, play cards, go out for coffee or help them do their grocery shopping.  Isolation can have a devastating affect on our aging members of our communities.  
• You might consider providing transportation to medical appointments for our older citizens, SRIV matches a volunteer who has availability with the citizen who needs a ride—this is a very flexible opportunity.
• Once a month you could help stock shelves at one of our local food pantries.  
• Once a week or as a substitute you could delivery Meals on Wheels or food commodities from one of our local pantries.  Hunger should never be acceptable in any society.
• Once a week you could help at an after school homework club or mentor a student in need of positive adult role models.  SRIV works with our local school districts to support our students in need of academic assistance and mentors.

Can’t make a commitment of once a week or once a month; how about on occasion?  You could join our CERT Team that supports South Kingstown and Narragansett during times of community crisis.  You would be provided training and then IF we have a hurricane, blizzard, or power outage you would respond as part of a team to help shelter our neighbors.  This is a very flexible schedule.  

We also support volunteers for the Chariho Team and Westerly Teams that provide shelter assistance in those communities.  This is an opportunity that needs volunteers so that across our county we areas self-sufficient as possible, backing up our first responders in times of crisis.

There are so many ways that each of us can help our neighbors, our communities, and our little corner of the world.  We’re inviting you to join us in helping to make our region just a little bit better for all of our neighbors.  Please call us to get started today at 401-552-7661.  Southern Rhode Island Volunteers is here for you, the volunteer—the resource that is priceless to our neighbors’ needs.  

You can also learn more about SRIV at www.southernrivol.org.