THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 25, 1994 TAG: 9412230041
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
During his presidency Ronald Reagan pushed voluntarism as a concept through which Americans could help their country cope better with its myriad social ills. Now Newt Gingrich, new spokesman for the GOP, is echoing the former president's call.
But long before politicians started trying to make voluntarism a substitute for collective responsibility for the common welfare, private citizens felt an urge to help others and acted on it.
It's as American as the apple pie a mother makes for her church's bake sale. It's waving the flag in the noblest way. And people today are saying ``The community has been good to me; I want to give something back'' so often it's a cliche.
Many charitable groups depend on the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia. There it's full-cycle voluntarism. Volunteers shop for the poor, assisted by volunteers who stock the shelves with food, some of which has been donated.
As customers check out, a volunteer steps up to weigh their purchases. One after another, he picks up heavy boxes, puts them on the scale and then sends them rolling down the conveyor to the people's vehicles. He's there all day the three days (sometimes four) a week that the Foodbank is open. An early retiree, he's spent the last five years working without pay: building homes for Habitat for Humanity, ladling at soup kitchens, even helping his Uncle Sam at a national wildlife refuge.
Reagan once suggested that each church in the country adopt a poor family. Churches in South Hampton Roads serve as rotating shelters for the homeless through the colder months. Scores of these churches' members operate the shelters, helping hundreds.
A small food pantry in Norfolk's Park Place helps feed maybe 1,000 people in a month. Volunteers perform many duties in hospitals; others assist those who are terminally ill. Volunteers ring bells at Salvation Army Christmas kettles. They bring hot meals to people. Some go into the classroom to help children learn to read; others teach adults.
Volunteers are in the limelight during the Christmas season as the media show them stuffing stockings, filling holiday food baskets and fixing toys. But voluntarism goes on year-round - without fanfare. Little of the work is glamorous; much is plain hard work, sometimes calling for tough decisions.
But since we're in the season that focuses on volunteers, this is an apt time to acknowledge them and to make a point:
Amid all the suffering and evil that seem to plague our society, silent heroes walk among us every day to make life better. by CNB