This spring Our House celebrated our volunteers with our first ever Volunteer Appreciation Event.

Our House recognizes the value that volunteers bring to our organization. They provide kitchen support at the shelter through weekly meal preparation activities. They perform needed facility tasks such as organizing donations and deep cleaning classrooms. They coordinate drives for needed in-kind donations. In addition, volunteers assist with administrative tasks including helping with data entry and with the preparation of mass mailings.

Volunteer contributions enable us to connect to our local community, conserve funds and provide metro Atlanta residents with opportunities to share their talents with others.

In our Early Childhood Education (ECE) program, they serve to enhance and enrich our service delivery model, and staff recognize the value of having helping hands contribute in the classrooms, special projects, and fundraising. Classroom volunteers regularly read to and mentor children in our ECE program, which allows teachers more planning time and more one-on-one time with children who need more individual attention. Many regular individual volunteers also come to hold and care for infants in the youngest ECE classrooms. Groups of volunteers come to sanitize toys and play areas in our ECE classrooms, which is vital to protecting the health and well-being of the children.

For the CDA Certification training program, volunteers are primarily used to provide training on specific job-finding skills such as interview etiquette, attire, and techniques. Volunteers also participate in the program to offer financial literacy training. Family Advocates work with community partners and volunteers to provide programming on topics such as nutrition education, stress management, budgeting, healthy parenting and healthy relationships to all parents, and also specifically to parents residing in the emergency shelter. At the emergency shelter, volunteer groups come to prepare meals for residents in the evenings and especially on weekends. Agency-wide, volunteers host drives for essential items such as diapers, wipes, and formula.

We celebrated our volunteers with treats and music. Tyese Lawyer, our longtime President and CEO, spoke about how crucial our volunteers are to our mission and thanked them for their dedication.

We were also able to give a special thanks to Miss Jeanne Merritt, our longest serving volunteer. Miss Jeanne has been organizing our children’s clothing closet since 1994. Her generosity and dedication have been invaluable and extraordinary.

Volunteers at Our House assist in and execute many day-to-day activities and special projects, and provide meaningful and fun opportunities to our residents which they otherwise would not have. We are grateful for their willingness to serve.