By Amy Klein
VolunteerConnect Honors Community Leaders at Annual Impact Awards
Princeton, NJ…… (October 7, 2014) VolunteerConnect honored Marge Smith, The Boys & Girls Club of Mercer and HillWallck, LLP, for their dedication to volunteerism in greater Mercer County. The three recipients were recognized at the Annual Impact Awards cocktail reception called, The Nature of Volunteering, Wednesday, October 1st at the D&R Greenway Land Trust in Princeton.
The Impact Awards recognize individuals, corporations or community organizations that have made significant contributions towards volunteerism in greater Mercer County. VolunteerConnect’s executive director, Amy Klein, said, “We were thrilled to recognize extraordinary leaders who have embraced the importance of volunteerism and exemplify a passion for giving back to the community.” “All of our awardees truly deserve this recognition and we’re proud to be able to share their accomplishments.”
The award recipients were also all given a Joint Legislative Resolution by Senator Turner, Assemblyman Gusciora and Assemblywoman Watson Coleman for their efforts in support of volunteerism in the State. “It was a wonderful addition for the award recipients to be noticed by the State of New Jersey this year,” Klein states.
“The Nature of Volunteering” is changing and VolunteerConnect of Central New Jersey is leading the way. The traditional need for volunteers to roll up their sleeves to serve meals at soup kitchens, pass out water at a 5K run or stuff envelopes is a constant need for the more than 2,000 nonprofits in Mercer County. But, today, volunteering has also expanded to support the strategic needs of a nonprofit.
Business professionals whether employed, in transition, retired or at home with children, are using their skills, degrees and talents to complete mission-critical projects that nonprofits otherwise might not be able to afford. These “skills-based volunteers” are working in our community to help nonprofits with business plans, marketing efforts, technology advisement, financial planning and so much more.
VolunteerConnect helps to match skills-based volunteers with area organizations such as, Habitat for Humanity of Trenton, Isles, The New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women, Kidsbridge, Trenton Community Music School and the West Windsor Arts Center. By sharing their professional talents, skills-based volunteers allow nonprofits to better serve their clients while continuing to direct their finances to client services and needs.
VolunteerConnect also partners with corporations to provide skills-based opportunities and board training for employees to learn to be effective nonprofit board members. For more information about VolunteerConnect’s programming, please visit the website at www.volunteerconnectnj.org or contact Amy Klein at [email protected] or 609-921-8893.
Photo: Award winners with VolunteerConnect (Left to Right): Robin Fogel, Board Chair, VolunteerConnect, Ryan Kennedy of HillWallack, Mike Kahme of HillWallack, Marge Smith, Founder of Princeton Community Works, David Anderson, Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Club of Mercer and Amy Klein, Executive Director of VolunteerConnect.
