On May 29th, I marked my one-year anniversary at Business Volunteers Maryland. I keep saying that this year has been the quickest, craziest, and funniest year to date…COVID-19 excluded. As a new college graduate, I was excited to learn the ropes of the nonprofit sector and work with our business partners to provide engaging and impactful volunteer opportunities. Before joining Business Volunteers Maryland, I loved hands-on service projects. I spent time in Louisiana and Texas rebuilding homes after natural disaster and liked to spend Saturday mornings volunteering with Second Chance or The 6th Branch. This is something that I shared with many of our corporate volunteers as we revitalized schools […]
The Value of Skilled Volunteering
Last month, Business Volunteers Maryland President and CEO Julie Kernan shared her reflections on how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our world. You can read her full post here, but her final thoughts expressed a silver lining of “the development of a greater commitment to caring for others through volunteering and community engagement.” Usually, when an individual thinks of volunteering they immediately think of direct service- planting a tree, serving meals, tutoring children. But there are a variety of ways that an individual can engage with a nonprofit. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the value of skilled volunteering to the forefront, something that Business Volunteers has been a strong proponent […]
From our CEO: “This is my beacon of hope.”
When the team at Business Volunteers Maryland did our annual planning for Global Volunteer Month, it was early 2020 and we never could have imagined the April we ultimately faced. What started as planned postings shining the light on local volunteers (#LocalLights) who are continually doing good, better in our community, completely changed from volunteering as we know it. While it is still important to acknowledge our traditional volunteer heroes, we would be remiss if we did not amplify the current and obvious needs. Local nonprofits, facing unprecedented headwinds as communities respond to COVID-19, reached out to Business Volunteers with unique requests to fill volunteer needs. According to the Urban […]