The Rewards of Being a Volunteer Program Manager!

Being a VPM is never boring! There is always a challenge everyday you come into work. It may be about people, it may be about a how to do, discovering a new service delivery method. But it's not boring.

Friendships with both professionals and volunteers. Some of mine go back 30 years! One volunteer friendship became my mentor at my first VPM job. She is still an active 80+ years old.

Ability to be creative.

What I give to and receive from people on a personal level.

My favourite moments are when the student volunteers make connections between their classroom work, their volunteer experience, and their own role in the political and social process. It's even better afterwards when they recruit their fellow students to do service work in the surrounding community.

The greatest rewards I get from being a volunteer program manager is in seeing personal growth in the volunteers, and seeing the great joy they get from seeing improvements in their clients.

I think my greatest reward is the chance, through and with the efforts of our volunteers, to truly make a difference in people's lives EVERYDAY. Sure, as an individual, I can make a difference. But through working with our volunteers, I make an even greater impact - and not just on our clients. I truly feel I get the chance to make real changes in our community - by changing and impacting the lives of our clients AND our volunteers. I don't care how trite it sounds: I feel blessed to be able to do this work!

The greatest rewards for me are the incredible moments of grace that I am privileged to witness almost daily. Every day ordinary people perform selfless and extraordinary acts... I see people and situations transformed by the kindness of a volunteer when it is most needed, and least expected. Volunteers are the heart and soul of any caring community of people regardless of whether it is reading stories to children or delivering meals to homebound adults. I feel blessed to be a part of a community whose capacity for caring is so great.

I see smiles where there was only sadness, laughter where tears once ran freely, comfort in the face of pain, beams of light where there was only darkness.

Seeing our clients faces light up when I bring a new volunteer around.

The opportunity to make some new and wonderful friends that I probably won't have met otherwise.

Tips & Tools for the Overworked Volunteer Manager

Practice telling yourself you can do it. Negative thinking is unproductive.

Make a list of everything you have to do. Prioritize the list. Review the tasks with the lowest priority and ask if they are still worth the effort or if they could be dropped.

Take another look at your list. Ask yourself if you know where to begin. Ask questions like, "Will this cost my program money if I postpone it?" "Will the learners and/or volunteers be negatively impacted if I postpone it?" This will help you prioritize your list even further.

Be honest with your volunteers and your co-workers. If others are waiting on you to produce, and you are mired in indecision, let them know. Tell them that you have other priorities or have just not done the work. Or suggest ways they might help you with the work.