Love Our Volunteers!

Jan Bobbett

One of the best features of Sun Lakes is our attitude toward volunteering. A high percentage of Sun Lakers are eager to share their energy and skills to improve our community. We’re not all experts, but caring for others and wanting to improve the community is prized.

For example, consider how many active members offer to serve on their local board and/or official committees. And look at the number of clubs. Yes, club leadership takes work, and members seem happy to take leadership positions to make their clubs worthwhile, sometimes because of what members can learn, and other times it’s just for fun. Whether it’s the Apple Club or Ukulele Club, etc., members learn from those who are more skilled. Sometimes members’ motivation can be changing old habits to practice new approaches to creativity, getting healthy, etc.

Some local people volunteer at events or organizations beyond our territory, like New Adventures in Learning and the fire department volunteers who offer the annual Art Show.

Then there’s the desire to share personal history and learn from others. Every time I pick up a Splash, I look for the “Word of the Month” article and enjoy how David Zapatka and his readers play with language and share the family history of selected words.

Some volunteers offer their homes for book club meetings so we can express ourselves and see how others interpret books. Similarly, isn’t it fun to join others to play Mah Jongg or a card game at a volunteer’s home or in the clubhouse?

Some groups work quietly for the overall good. I bet every reader can think of many people like that. One group that comes to mind is Crystal Card workers where volunteers work on the re-worked cards to earn money for a worthwhile charity, My Sisters’ Place.

I’ve left out many groups, so check out the monthly Splash for other ways to volunteer, including performing, creating, improving our environment, etc.

I think it’s super that leaders from all of our associations get together each year to select a small number of outstanding volunteers for recognition as a Crystal Award winner. I’m sure that they all deserve their acclaim, and I’m willing to bet that not a single one of them put in all that work for the acclaim. More power to them!

I thought of this topic because I met this week with several volunteers who work as librarians in the Sun Lakes Country Club Library. I hope you will welcome our new librarians Joan Carver, Michael Hern, Mary Salmon, and Barbara Trumpus.