A bit at a time: Days of Caring projects prove a little means much

Volunteer Wayne/RSVP Director Barbara Stiles has reason to crow a little.

After all, the number of volunteer hours donated to make the eight days of Days of Caring nearly doubled the contribution from last year. And the amount of funds and goods donated to organizations for the needy also increased.

But — even though they won’t — Mrs. Stiles and the other organizers for the event also have the right to shake their fingers a little, too. They can say “I told you so” to all of us who sit around and leave the volunteering to someone else because we think the little time we have won’t make a difference.

The results from this year’s Days of Caring event show what can happen when people set aside even a little time to make their communities better.

There might not be any one huge contribution, but when added up, those minutes and hours matter — and make changing lives possible.

So, it is a wake-up call of sorts for the rest of us to get busy, to offer what we have instead of lamenting what we can’t give. It challenges this community to keep up the volunteer work year-round.

There are many people who have already discovered the secret of the joy you get when you give to others. They are the ones who are showing us the way.

Mrs. Stiles and the other volunteers are already looking forward to next year.

Perhaps the rest of us ought to be thinking about not just how we can participate in 2008, but how we can contribute to our communities right now.

Published in Editorials on October 15, 2007 10:44 AM