Help us celebrate National Volunteer Week!

Virginia Cooperative Extension will celebrate the volunteers who improve the lives of Virginia’s residents during National Volunteer Week, April 6-12, 2014. “Celebrate Service,” the theme for National Volunteer Week, captures the meaning of this signature week: honoring the people who dedicate themselves to taking action and solving problems in their communities.

In 2013, Virginia Cooperative Extension engaged nearly 40,000 volunteers who provided more than 1.5 million hours of volunteer service in the commonwealth. Virginia Cooperative Extension offers several master volunteer programs that provide training opportunities in gardening and horticulture; food, nutrition, and safety; natural resources management; water supply systems; financial management; and energy conservation. More than 13,000 adult and youth volunteers served over 185,000 youth ages 5 to 19 in hands-on educational programs designed to build leadership, citizenship, and life skills in Virginia 4-H, the youth development program of Virginia Cooperative Extension.

“The tremendous difference Virginia Cooperative Extension has made in the lives of Virginians over the past 100 years has been due in large measure to the contributions of the many dedicated and tireless volunteers,” said Edwin Jones, director of Virginia Cooperative Extension. “National Volunteer Week is an opportunity to celebrate this contribution and to say thank you.”

National Volunteer Week, a Points of Light program sponsored by the Advil Relief in Action campaign, was established in 1974 and has grown exponentially each year, with thousands of volunteer projects and special events scheduled throughout the week. This year marks the 40th anniversary of National Volunteer Week, demonstrating the enduring importance of recognizing our country’s volunteers for their vital contributions.

We are also very proud of our Master Food Volunteers who contribute so much to our program!  Our volunteers help us reach more Virginians through through teaching, hands-on program support, and a lot of handling of details behind-the-scenes to make our Family and Consumer Sciences programs successful.

During this special week, we want to say thank you for all that you do.  We couldn’t do this without you!

Here are some of our most recent volunteers to join us:

Northern Virginia’s in spring 2014:

Portsmouth in fall 2013:

Stay tuned for more to come in 2014.