Hap­py Nation­al Vol­un­teer Month!

April 01, 2021

KYC is grate­ful to cel­e­brate our incred­i­ble vol­un­teers this month and all year long! To our more than 180 active vol­un­teers, and to the many, many more who have vol­un­teered through­out KYC’s 50 year his­to­ry — THANK YOU for the impact you’ve made on our communities.

Togeth­er We Thrive.

From com­mu­ni­ty-mind­ed cor­po­rate teams to thought­ful indi­vid­u­als, we’re grate­ful for each and every vol­un­teer who has shared their skills with KYC. KYC could­n’t be the agency we are today with­out our incred­i­bly kind and ded­i­cat­ed vol­un­teers who take on a vari­ety of tasks and projects that sup­port our mis­sion while liv­ing our vision: Togeth­er We Thrive. Check out just a few of the ways that vol­un­teers have made a dif­fer­ence at KYC.

Lead­ing the Way to Achieve More Together

KYC’s Vol­un­teer Board of Direc­tors pro­vide the pro­fes­sion­al wis­dom and for­ward-think­ing insight that ensures KYC’s abil­i­ty to serve our com­mu­ni­ties for many years to come. Their exper­tise, rang­ing from busi­ness oper­a­tions to the pro­gram areas that KYC pro­vides, ensures that KYC is equipped to max­i­mize oppor­tu­ni­ties to evolve as the needs in our com­mu­ni­ties do. Their lead­er­ship, stew­ard­ship, and deep con­nec­tion to KYC’s mis­sion have built the orga­ni­za­tion that we are today, and ensures that KYC will remain a strong part­ner in the health of our com­mu­ni­ties for decades to come.

Deliv­er­ing Meals, Deliv­er­ing Friendship

Vol­un­teers are the heart and soul of our Home Deliv­ered Meals pro­gram! From March 2020 to Feb­ru­ary 2021, our Meals vol­un­teers deliv­ered a stag­ger­ing 81,242 meals to 420 local old­er adults! That’s near­ly dou­ble the num­ber of meals deliv­ered the year pri­or to the pan­dem­ic. As old­er adults stayed home to stay safe and their access to food and care were severe­ly lim­it­ed, the vol­un­teers who deliv­ered meals dur­ing the pan­dem­ic became even more impor­tant. These incred­i­ble vol­un­teers not only pro­vid­ed the nutri­tious meals that helped keep home­bound seniors healthy, but they became a vital con­nec­tion to com­mu­ni­ty, pro­vid­ing well­ness checks and friend­ship to the old­er adults they served. 

KYC is cur­rent­ly seek­ing vol­un­teers to deliv­er Meals, as this pro­gram con­tin­ues to grow! For more infor­ma­tion about this oppor­tu­ni­ty, con­tact our Vol­un­teer Ser­vices team at 847−524−8800 ext. 182 today.

Help­ing KYC Staff Go the Extra Mile

Sev­er­al vol­un­teers tack­le the admin­is­tra­tive tasks and spe­cial­ized pro­gram require­ments that direct­ly sup­port ser­vices KYC pro­vides. Thanks to their time, ded­i­ca­tion, and exper­tise, our clients are served effi­cient­ly and effec­tive­ly. By pro­vid­ing this much-need­ed office sup­port, our vol­un­teers enable our staff to focus their time and atten­tion on the clients and com­mu­ni­ties we serve, allow­ing us to dri­ve improve­ments and devel­op process­es that bet­ter serve our clients as they work toward their goals. 

We are look­ing for addi­tion­al admin­is­tra­tive sup­port vol­un­teers! Con­tact our Vol­un­teer Ser­vices team at 847−524−8800 ext. 182 today to learn how you can make a difference.

Lend­ing Expert Advice to Old­er Adults Nav­i­gat­ing Finan­cial Challenges

Vol­un­teers share their spe­cial­ized finan­cial exper­tise with old­er adult clients who are nav­i­gat­ing finan­cial chal­lenges. For seniors liv­ing on a fixed income, finan­cial resources and oblig­a­tions can be extreme­ly dif­fi­cult to man­age, espe­cial­ly as med­ical and care needs change. After care­ful­ly review­ing clients’ expens­es, finan­cial resources, and cost-sav­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, our back­ground-checked and care­ful­ly vet­ted Mon­ey Man­age­ment Pro­gram vol­un­teers have helped old­er adults make the most of their resources while max­i­miz­ing their independence.

Spread­ing Cheer and Keep­ing Com­mu­ni­ty Mem­bers Safe

Car­ing vol­un­teer groups and indi­vid­ual com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers have shared kind mes­sages, care pack­ages, and hand­made masks to bright­en the days of many, many KYC clients! Vol­un­teers help clients feel con­nect­ed to a com­mu­ni­ty that cares when they receive friend­ly cards or draw­ings. Thanks to vol­un­teers who have packed care pack­ages, our clients who are mov­ing into sta­ble hous­ing, some­times for the first time in their lives, have some of the basic needs items they need to set­tle into their new home. And, as many clients were strug­gling to find face masks through­out the pan­dem­ic, vol­un­teers had our clients cov­ered (lit­er­al­ly!) to stay safe with their gifts of hand­craft­ed masks. These projects and ges­tures of kind­ness go a long way for our clients to know they are sup­port­ed as they work toward their goals.

Cre­at­ing Com­mu­ni­ty Engagement

Vol­un­teers cre­ate oppor­tu­ni­ties for new com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to get to know KYC through advo­ca­cy, event plan­ning, and fundrais­ing. Vol­un­teer com­mit­tees have planned excit­ing events, like the Hus­tle for Health 5K Run/​Walk, that cel­e­brate the good we can do when com­mu­ni­ties unite in sup­port of men­tal health, old­er adult ser­vices, and pos­i­tive youth pro­gram­ming. Our Devel­op­ment Com­mit­tee mem­bers act as liaisons through­out the com­mu­ni­ty, con­nect­ing KYC with oppor­tu­ni­ties to raise funds, spread aware­ness, and increase engage­ment with strate­gic stake­hold­ers and com­mu­ni­ty part­ners. The Finance Com­mit­tee reviews KYC’s com­pli­cat­ed finan­cial doc­u­ments, safe­guard­ing the eco­nom­ic health of the agency and pois­ing us for growth!

Thank You, Volunteers!

We can’t thank our vol­un­teers enough for all that they do! To each and every per­son who has vol­un­teered through KYC, on behalf of our staff and the peo­ple we serve togeth­er, Thank you.

Look­ing to Get Involved?

These are just a few of our vol­un­teer oppor­tu­ni­ties, with vol­un­teer roles and projects chang­ing all the time. If you would like to learn how you can make a dif­fer­ence by vol­un­teer­ing with KYC, please con­tact our Vol­un­teer Ser­vices team at 847−524−8800 ext. 182 today.

Check out the achieve­ments of some of KYC’s longest-tenured vol­un­teers here!

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