COMMUNITY ServICe plaN - Visiting Nurse Service of New York

VNSNY VOLUNTEER PROGRAMHelping Us Help Patientsin Their CommunitiesLast year, our volunteershad an impact on almost6,000 patients.Photo: VNSNY volunteer LeslieSchatzer fits wigs for VNSNYcancer patients.During 2010, VNSNY volunteersmade an impact on almost 6,000 patients,including some of the most vulnerablein our service area: children and familiesin need and individuals suffering frommental illness. VNSNY volunteers domany important things for the organization,including raising funds and providing“extras,” such as toys for children from lowincomefamilies, layettes to young familiesjust starting out, enriching activities likemusic and art therapy or tabletop gardeningto seniors at adult day care centers, andin-kind services, including apartmentfurnishings, to new mothers moving outof shelters. VNSNY volunteers are madeup of high school and college students,working and nonworking adults andretirees, and corporate employees. Volunteersrange in age from 14 to 92 years old,a quarter of them teenagers and a quarter65 or older. About 60 percent are female.Some VNSNY volunteers donate their timeand services because they just want to giveback to their communities. Jermaine Evans,a Bronx Fatherhood Program volunteerwho mentors new fathers, says volunteeringfor VNSNY “can not only benefit you andimprove your outlook on life, but it can makeyou a productive, active part of society.”Leslie Schatzer, for instance, volunteers fittingwigs for VNSNY cancer patients. “Theystill go out — shopping and doing things,”Leslie says, “and they still like looking good.”As to helping them look good, “I do love it.I really love it.”In 2010, the dollar value of the time volunteersdonated to VNSNY was valued at$1.8 million. Really, though, the work ofVNSNY volunteers, who go out of theirway to keep patients safe and healthy intheir communities, is priceless.4