An anniversary celebration in the Northeast becomes a helping tradition

Food and Nutrition, Sept, 1991 by Marty Boner

Inspired by President Bush's call to volunteerism, employees of the Food and Nutrition Service's Northeast Regional Office (NERO) decided to celebrate FNS' 20th Anniversary in 1989 by going out into the community and helping. Two years later, they're still celebrating!

NERO staff came up with the idea of having their own "1,000 Points of Light" volunteer initiative in May 1989. They began by contacting local community groups and institutions needing volunteers, then organized teams of regional office volunteers and began scheduling activities.

One of their first activities was serving dinner at Boston's Pine Street Inn, the largest homeless shelter in New England. They also spent an evening at the Boston Food Bank, sorting through packages of donated foods, salvaging more than 11,000 pounds of food worth approximately $8,100 for distribution to the needy.

Trying their hand at catering, they prepared and served a spaghetti dinner to elderly residents of the Boston Housing Authority's Eva White Residence. And for children, they helped organized and run Massachusetts' Special Olympics

Enthusiastic volunteers

recruited co-workers

After each activity, NERO volunteers returned to the office beaming, telling stories about their work and what a good time they'd had, and recruiting their co-workers.

"More and more people were volunteering for each subsequent activity," says Brooksie Spears, a regional office employee active in the volunteer effort. "Everybody came away feeling good about themselves because they had volunteered, and good about the experience because it was fun."

The volunteer efforts organized as part of the 20th Anniversary celebration were so successful that the regional office established a standing "1,000 Points of Light Committee." The committee seeks out and organizes volunteer opportunities and rallies employees to participate. Its goal is to get employees out, in force, to work in the community.

These activities have included planting seedlings at an inner-city park; hosting a "nutritious and delicious" party for the elderly, using FNS nutrition expertise in preparing and sharing recipes for healthful desserts; participating in the Boston Walk for Hunger; and many others.

"There is a great

team spirit..."

Besides providing a service to the community, the group activities have other benefits as well, according to regional administrator Harry McLean.

"Directors, supervisors, technicians, and secretaries go out as a team and work together at the same level," he says. "I think more than a few people are surprised to have their boss working side by side with them, say, for example, sorting cans at the food bank.

"Working closely together on something so worthwhile forges a certain bond or understanding between people. You gain a new respect and appreciation for one another."

The volunteer activities have had a noticeable effect on morale in the office, McLean says. "Everyone works as a group and shares as a group the special feeling that comes from doing something good. There is a great team spirit that comes from volunteering together, and this definitely carries over into the office."

Spears, who co-chairs the "1,000 Points of Light" committee, believes the benefits of team volunteer activities are immeasurable. "In volunteering, employees are accomplishing a number of things," she says, "not the least of which is helping their neighbors. But their work also reflects well on themselves, FNS, and the government in general. It certainly counters the image of uncaring and impersonal bureaucrats.

"And," she adds, "one of the best things is that since most of the volunteer work is with poor people, it personalizes what we are doing in our jobs--it puts it on a more human level. When you have an experience like that, you become more sensitive to the importance of your work and are more motivated in it."

For more information, contact: Brooksie Spears, Co-chair NERO Points of Light Committee Food and Nutrition Service, USDA 10 Causeway Street Boston, Massachusetts 02222-1068 Telephone: (617) 565-6490