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Volunteers provide over $1 million in service

One million dollars.

That is what the time provided by Clarion University volunteers was worth last year.

The volunteers came from all phases of Clarion University life. Special interest organizations recorded over 15,460 hours; sororities, over 8.645 hours; fraternities, over 5,870 hours; honoraries, over 2,875 hours; athletic teams, 15 teams and the activities of the Student Athletic Advisory Committee, 2,467 hours; and employees, 2,182 hours. Individuals, not affiliated with any group, turned in an additional 24,158 hours.

Projects vary widely in scope. Some prominent examples from 2005-06 include:

•52 students provided 9,557 hours of service to non-profits, social service agencies and schools through the Community Service Federal Work-study Program.

•Through collaborative programs with Student Senate, student organizations, athletic teams, faculty and community organizations students participated in numerous philanthropic and service projects.

•The 21st Saturday Service Day/United Way Day of Caring had 150 volunteers working at 14 different sites.

•Operation Clarion Cares, coordinated by the Student Senate, raised over $8,000 for hurricane relief efforts.

•The athletic teams surpassed previous collections with this year’s canned food drive collecting over 9,000 cans of food, benefiting the Community Action Agency.

•The Clarion Dance Marathon collected over $3,000 for the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh "Keep Families Together" fund that helps terminally ill children and their families stay together and get through their time of need.

•Three hundred fifty students participated in the annual Relay for Life Fund event, which collected over $15, 500 for the America Cancer Society.

•Over $2,500 was raised at the first Trash to Treasure sale benefiting the United Way of Clarion County.

•Students in Dr. Pamela Gent’s Nature of Mental Retardation class participated in Saturday Service Day at events tailored for the students to have interaction with mentally challenged children and adults or find a service-learning event on their own.

Volunteer hours and projected financial savings are not the only way to measure success. Volunteers also provide many intangibles that can not be easily quantified, such as demonstrating the amount of support an organization has within a community, providing work for short periods of time, and providing support on a wide range of projects.

“The annual assessment of the value of a volunteer's time has been announced by the Independent Sector,” said Diana Brush, associate director of Career Services Cemter. “The estimated dollar value of volunteer time is $18.04 per hour for 2005.”

Multiplying that amount by Clarion University’s volunteer hours totals $1,072,971.39. The Independent Sector determines the value of volunteer time based on the average hourly earnings of all production and non-supervisory workers on private non-farm payrolls as determined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Independent Sector takes this figure and increases it by 12 percent to estimate for fringe benefits.

For information on volunteer opportunities or to request volunteer help contact Diana Brush at the Career Services Center, 114 Egbert Hall, call 814-393-2323.

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