Cover Story
As unemployment rates have risen, so has volunteerism
volunteer A new breed of
by Sue Dremann
H
Top: Vanessa Binder, who was laid off in January 2008, stands at the reception desk of the American Red Cross, where she often works in the mornings. Above: George Turner, a volunteer at the Palo Alto VA hospital, greets a patient in his room. On the cover: Ralph Ackermann, a former teacher, volunteers at the InnVision/Urban Ministry Food Closet, helping a client choose food to take home. Photo by Veronica Weber.
Page 20 • October 16, 2009 • Palo Alto Weekly
photos by Veronica Weber
ope Benham loaded the hospitality cart with things she thought the ill and injured veterans might like: squeeze balls and sunglasses, books and magazines, lap blankets knitted by church women. In the hospital store room, she filled plastic bags with toiletries, including little bottles of shampoo, soap and tubes of toothpaste. “Many come here and they don’t have anything,” she said, taking one last look around the VA Palo Alto Health Care System store room before wheeling the cart into the corridor. On the second floor in the acute-care ward, she worked her way door to door. A veteran took a brown quilt and a T-shirt. Feet wrapped in warm socks stuck out from behind privacy curtains. Benham peeked in, wheeling away if the occupants were sleeping. In other rooms, she stopped to chat. “Oh, you bring in that goody wagon,” a man said, pleased with the note cards donated by strangers. In the wake of an unemployment rate that has risen to 12 percent in Santa Clara County, volunteerism has also increased — by 15 to 20 percent in the last year, according to local charitable organizations. Some new volunteers are pursuing interests for which they never before had time. Others are acquiring skills and building their resumes, nonprofit staff members said. “There is definitely greater interest this year. A federal report this summer led by the Corporation of National Community Service found that during the 2009 ‘Summer of Service’ there was 15 percent more volunteer activity over last year’s summer from mid-June to the end of September,” said Robert Rosenthal, spokesman for