City harnesses strong volunteer spirit

Historically, Columbia has been blessed with civic-minded citizens who love to volunteer. Our city has a long history of people wanting to pitch in; they see a need, and they want to help.

National Volunteer Week ended May 3, but we see this community spirit every day in the time invested by our volunteer mayor and our volunteer city council and members of boards and commissions—who last year alone put in 980 hours and 5,200 hours of volunteer time, respectively.

For many years, several private-sector volunteer agencies have served our community, including the Voluntary Action Center, the United Way and the American Red Cross. As a community, we took on some major events that used large numbers of volunteers, such as the Show-Me State Games, led by Gary Filbert; the Memorial Day celebration, led by Mary Posner; and the U.S. National Hot Air Balloon Championships, led by Vicki Russell, Lorah Steiner and the Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

But in the 1990s, it became increasingly clear that, to harness the volunteer spirit of our city, we needed a more organized volunteer operation. Mayor Darwin Hindman came to the conclusion that many Columbians wanted to help out but didn’t know how to approach the city and offer their services. I agreed that more people would be willing to help if we organized the volunteer opportunities and made it easy to sign up.

So when we put together the 1995-1996 budget, we decided to create the Office of Volunteer Services. A volunteer coordinator would serve the public as the starting point for people wanting to get involved in the community. We needed someone to coordinate the needs of our city departments and operations and show volunteers how they could assist. We needed someone to make it easy to volunteer.

Prior to the creation of the volunteer office, most city departments had volunteer positions available in areas such as solid waste, and many departments still handle some volunteers on their own. However, at that time, there was no effort to coordinate volunteer efforts among departments. In addition, there was little thought given to the potential for volunteers in many areas. We needed someone to promote that potential.

So we hired our first volunteer coordinator, Elizabeth Dumm, who began working for the city in November 1996 at an annual salary of $31,000. A former promotions assistant for KOMU-TV, Dumm brought to the job an extensive background in volunteer work for the American Red Cross, the Voluntary Action Center, Special Olympics, the Show-Me State Games, the American Cancer Society, United Way and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

The office matches volunteers with city services; promotes the many lesser-known volunteer opportunities; educates citizens about volunteering; and helps foster city pride. In addition, the office later would take on the administration of the Columbia Community Trust and the New Century Fund 501(c)(3) foundation, which I will write about in a future article.

Projects in that first year included the formation of organizations such as the Park Patrol, established in May 1997 to monitor crime on the MKT Nature and Fitness Trail; the Adopt a Spot Beautification Program, though which volunteers landscape and maintain plants throughout the city; and Clean Up Columbia Day, in which participants pick up litter in exchange for a thank-you and a free T-shirt.

The success of the office exceeded my expectations. In the second year after the office had opened, volunteerism in Columbia jumped by 8,500 hours—from about 33,600 in fiscal year 1997 to more than 42,000 in 1998. It proved we were on the right track.

In the next couple of years, more new projects sprouted. TreeKeepers began in April 1998, educating citizens about proper tree care and handing out trees on Arbor Day. The First Night Columbia alcohol-free New Year’s Eve event also began during this time period.

Then, in November 1999, Elizabeth Dumm resigned to move to Boston. A lengthy search ensued by a selection committee that included Muriel Battle, associate superintendent of Columbia Public Schools; Stephanie Browning, health department director; and Bill Watkins, then assistant city manager. The committee recommended Leigh Britt (then Leigh Nutter), and I hired her in May 2000.

Britt still serves as the city’s volunteer coordinator today, and the program has grown to include more than 40,000 hours of services in 11 city departments, generating volunteer time worth more than $752,000. The staff includes only three people, one of whom works part-time. It is one of the best investments our city ever made.

During her years as coordinator, the office has created programs such as Youth in Action, which supervises youth volunteers to serve several large events; Citizens on Patrol, who report suspicious activities; Crime Stoppers and the Citizen Corps Program, which also help the police department; the Cadet Program, which provides volunteers for parades, air shows and other events; Bike, Walk, Wheel and Week; the Columbia Hospitality Corps, which staffs a tourism information center at Lake of the Woods; and the Share the Light and Utility Check-off programs. In addition, the office has helped staff the Heritage Festival, the Festival of the Arts and the Earth Day celebration, and it created a festival volunteer group to organize volunteers for the Columbia Cares for Kutaisi Iodized Salt Drive.

The Parks and Recreation Department garners the most recorded volunteer hours, with more than 12,000 hours in 2007. Other offices that utilize volunteers include the Office of Cultural Affairs; the Convention and Visitors Bureau; the police, fire and health departments; Human Resources; Information Services; Public Works; the City Manager’s Office; and the Office of Volunteer Services itself.

Our city continually looks for potential resources to better serve our residents. These resources include service charges, taxes, gifts, grants and our volunteers. Our volunteers are worth much more to the city than money. They are the heart and soul of our community, and their generous gift of free time and effort helps continue our city’s award-winning ways and makes life better for all of us. We can be pleased with the success of our volunteer office in helping maintain our community as an award-winning city and a great place to live.