As the new Director of Volunteer Leadership & Development for the NYC Chapter, it is my privilege to join an organization that embraces the outstanding benefits of volunteerism and the value, skills, and wisdom of each and every volunteer – the embodiment of compassion, care and love in action.

From volunteers who lead our support groups to those who fill event “goody” bags…

From volunteers who educate the public about the challenges, facts and fallacies of Alzheimer’s disease to those who stuff envelopes, affix labels, and file papers…

From volunteers who cheer on teams at our annual “Memory Walk” to those who translate educational brochures to Chinese, Spanish or Russian…

From volunteers who give of their time and energy to produce successful fundraisers to those who staff our Health Fairs and Street Fairs…

Volunteers are a valuable, indispensable human resource. Without them, the Alzheimer’s Association would not be able to do the extensive work that we do to help those who are living with this long term, relentless, debilitating disease. The tireless efforts of our volunteers, and of course, our extraordinarily committed staff, make the way for farreaching education, advocacy and much needed support.

The direct and indirect benefits of volunteer service at the Chapter exemplify a qualitative and quantitative measure of excellence. This past summer, when most businesses slow down and people are on vacation, we are thrilled to report that we had 270+ volunteers on a monthly basis and a total of 1,250+ volunteer hours with a dollar value of $28,000 + per month (based on most current available value of volunteer hours-Regional NYS rate: $22.47 per hour – www.independentsector.org).

The direct benefits of volunteerism at the Alzheimer’s Association include:

• Thousands of hours of generously given volunteer time annually – chapter leadership, office administration, programmatic support, educators/presenters, day-of-event assistance and more.
• Thousands of people in the community served by our volunteers annually – caregivers,
  people with early, middle & late stage AD and other forms of dementia as well as their family members. Volunteers offer educational presentations via our Speakers Bureau, “man” our
  24-hour Helpline, enroll people in our Alzheimer’s Association Safe Return^® program, lead support and training groups, and more.
• Thousand of dollars saved via volunteer staffing.
• Translation of education, support, promotional printed materials.
• Provision of additional services, i.e. more support groups in the five boroughs.

The in-direct benefits of volunteerism at Alzheimer’s Association include:

• Increased community exposure – more people know about the Alzheimer’s Association as volunteers spread the word.
• New contacts and networking opportunities with likeminded individuals and organizations.
• Broader donor base – increased local support for our programs and services.
• A treasure trove of new ideas, skills and experience – an expanded human resource.

Volunteerism improves our ability to better serve the community. At the NYC Chapter, we fully appreciate and recognize that a strong volunteer base builds an effective, efficient, successful, organization. We applaud the second-to-none generous efforts of our volunteers past, present and future. They are, indeed, compassion, care and love in action.

Volunteer Kudos Corner: Our heartfelt thanks to our friends at Goldman Sachs & Co. – Charitable Services Group. The Luncheon & Spa Day that you provided for our early stage support group members in July was truly a gift! The delicious food, the massage therapy and reflexology pampering, and most importantly, the friendship and connections made were extraordinary. Much gratitude…

Volunteer Save-the-Date: Please join us at our “Memory Walk” on Sunday, October 22^nd in Riverside Park – volunteer, create a team, become a sponsor. It’s a great day for a great cause!!! Register on-line by clicking here. If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact me at 212-983-6906 ext. 248 or e-mail spartridge@alznyc.org. Look forward to seeing you there…

— Amanda Leis
Manager, Care Consultation

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