Volunteer recognition nomination forms

Look for the Helpers.. they are all around us

By now you’ve encountered the Mr. Rogers’ quote a few dozen times. I don’t get tired of it because it rings so true.

I saw the helpers by the hundreds on 9/12 bringing donated water, blankets, and more to a couple of tractor-trailers in the Fox 13 parking lot on Highland. I saw them at Hands on Memphis Serv-a-thons and United Way Days of Caring and Temple Israel Mitzvah days. You see them too. Not always in huge group on project days, but sometimes in ones and twos, maybe tutoring an adult learning to read or mentoring a child and taking food to a bereaved friend. It all adds up, the little acts and the big projects, to a culture of Good. We are better than evil. We will survive and prevail because we support each other and that syngery trumps the bad guys over time.

I spent about four hours last night and another hour & a half early this morning before work reading through 81 nomination forms, literally hundreds of pages, which outlined the accomplishments and contributions of some of our community's most dedicated volunteers. The Volunteer Mid-South recognition event will celebrate these good works.  Our friends with the Jefferson Awards, with Carnival Cares,  with the Volunteer Tennessee Commission, and many with other  individual organizations & non-profits will similarly hold some sort of volunteer recognition event. We cannot celebrate the Good too much or too often – it is a tonic, an inspiration, and hopefully a catalyst to more Good.  Look for the helpers – they are all around us.