Volunteerism is thriving in the United States, but it has taken on a new face and thrust. No longer is it merely society matrons planning the charity ball or the ladies` guild putting on a church supper to buy new hymnals. No longer is it an individual, neighborly endeavor. Volunteerism is big business. Volunteers come in all shapes and sizes and represent a cross-section of the community, from retired Judge Minard Hulse and his wife, May Evelynn Hulse, of Waukegan, who at ages 95 and 84, respectively, deliver Meals on Wheels to ”keep from getting old”; to Jenny Peacy of Zion, a teen volunteer at Victory Memorial Hospital, who thinks working with patients is ”fun” and will give her insights into a career in nursing.
Then there is American Airlines pilot Dave Shober, 34, of Palatine, father of a 13-month-old baby. Shober mans a Connection crisis telephone line 12 hours a month, sandwiching his phone shifts between flights because he grew up in a small town with a sense of community and believes if ”everyone did a little something for their community it would be a better place to live.”
There is Shirlee Gates, 53, of Lake Villa, who juggled a full-time job, family responsibilities and Girl Scout leadership duties when her children were younger because ”you make time for the things that are important to you and you should be concerned about providing leadership for your children.”
Volnteerism reaches into all aspects of our world, from meeting basic human needs through soup kitchens for the hungry and overnight shelters for the homeless, to protecting the environment in programs such as the Lake Forest Open Lands Association. Volunteers teach illiterate adults to read under the Lake County Literacy Program; brighten the lives of the elderly in nursing homes; concern themselves with neglected horses in the Hooved Animal Humane Society; protect their communities as volunteer firefighters.
Some organizations could not exist without volunteers. PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter), which aids the homeless, was built around volunteers and has only three paid staff members in contrast to 1,370 volunteers. The Lake County program, which began Dec. 24, 1987, with one shelter, has grown to 13 sites serving more than 400 people, operating just during the cold months from Oct. 1 to April 30.
Most PADS shelters are in churches, providing a base of volunteers from which to draw. Volunteers are not limited to any one congregation, however, said Doris Erickson, PADS administrator, and many crisscross the county to work, often taking middle-of-the-night duty. Most are site attendants, but there is an auxiliary corps that prepares meals and does laundry.
The Lake County Literacy Program is another volunteer-based endeavor. It is providing one-on-one tutoring for 200 people, with additional students being taught in classrooms by an instructor and volunteer aides. All of this is accomplished by three salaried full-time and three part-time employees and about 300 volunteers. Average age of literacy volunteers is 44, but more and more younger people, many with college degrees, are coming forward, said director Carol Morris. ”Many of these young folks have tutored in college and enjoyed it. I think we`re getting away from the `me` generation.”
Lake Forest Hospital, which has more than 600 volunteers doing everything from manning staff reception desks to transporting patients, is an institution that, obviously, would still be in business even if there were no volunteers. ”However, volunteer hours add up to $320,000 worth of time annually,”
said Sue Skinner, director of volunteers, ”and that is money that can be channeled into new equipment, for example. Also, they provide personal customer service and free up employees to concentrate on health care.”
Some people, such as Beryl Flom, 50, of Riverwoods, create their own volunteer niche. Long interested in advocacy for handicapped people, she developed a program for teaching disability awareness to schoolchildren and presents it regularly in schools in Deerfield and Skokie.
That is only one of myriad volunteer activities in which Flom, wife and mother of two sons, is involved. She is president of the Lake County League of Women Voters and works in the college and career resource center of Deerfield High School, keeping track of available scholarships. She also is on the parents` advisory committee of the 1st Presbyterian Church of Deerfield, is a board member and program chairwoman for the Interfaith Chaplaincy Service and is a member of the Deerfield School Hockey Board.
It was never necessary for her to work for a salary after her marriage, she said, but she often works from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on weekends in her volunteer projects. ”I`m a very organized person, so I can get a lot done,” she said. ”And I don`t do things like bridge and exercise. I prefer to do this (volunteer).”
John Stoffle, 65, of Beach Park, on the other hand, never volunteered much until he retired from his data processing job in Chicago 15 years ago when his wife died. Although he was left to manage a mobile home park they owned and raise four children by himself, he suddenly found himself with empty hours and few acquaintances in the area.
Volunteering became a social outlet as well as a community service. He is chairman of the veterans` committee of the Waukegan Elks Lodge and coordinates recreational programs for patients in the drug unit of the Veteran`s Administration Medical Center in North Chicago, both on site and on field trips such as ball games.
He organized and runs a weekly bingo game for VA outpatients who live in a group home in Kenosha. As a member of the Kiwanis Club, he helped build a greenhouse for a sheltered workshop operated by the Lake County Society for Human Development. With the Zion-Benton American Legion, he distributes Christmas gifts to hospitalized veterans every year. He also volunteers at a PADS shelter.
At Our Lady of Humility Church in Beach Park, Stoffle is bingo captain, usher, catechist and chairman of the Special Religious Education program for mentally handicapped people.
These days he is driven by more than a desire to fill his calendar.
”Because of the cutback in government funds for social services, there is a great need for volunteers,” he said. ”Some of these people depend on us.” Lorraine Larsen`s drive is to make the town she loves, Waukegan, a better place to live. To that end the 73-year-old widow shelves books at the Waukegan Public Library, organized the Waukegan Historical Society`s tour of homes, plays a variety of roles in St. Paul Lutheran Church, including preparing meals for a PADS shelter, and volunteers at the Christian Outreach of Lutherans food pantry. A volunteer most of her life, a year ago she worked for passage of a Waukegan School District referendum, though her own children are grown.
”I like to be active and do things that have results,” she said.
”Also, I find the contact with people is so rewarding.”
A big calendar, a husband who cooperates and flexibility (”Dinner won`t always be on time”) are Mary Jean Gallagher`s secrets of successful volunteering. Besides having raised seven children and currently raising adopted 5-year-old Kate Lynn, Gallagher, 60, is on the boards of Family Services of North Lake County, Interfaith Chaplaincy Service, the Lake County Health Department nursing advisory, and the Homeless Coalition. She does hands-on work for the literacy program, PADS, St. Anastasia Soup Kitchen and Connection Crisis telephone line. She is a pastoral care volunteer at Victory Memorial Hospital and organizes an annual memorial service for indigent people who die with no family to mourn them.
Everyone can do something, Gallagher thinks. There are even jobs for people who don`t want to be tied to a schedule. ”Just call the (agency`s)
director and say, `I`ll do it this week.”`
