City Honors 2,375 Volunteers Who Provided Nearly 118,500 Hours of Service in Arlington
By Office of Communication
Posted on April 18, 2019, April 18, 2019

Volunteer Appreciation 2019

As part of Volunteer Appreciation Week, the City of Arlington hosted a Volunteer Appreciation event on Friday, April 12, 2019, at the Levitt Pavilion. The theme of this event was “Without you, we CAN’T piece together our community puzzle.” We had more than 200 attendees at this event that included volunteers and their family members. 

National Volunteer Week during the third week in April is an opportunity to thank all the thousands of volunteers across the country who keep many organizations running, communities safe and provide the services that otherwise would not exist without volunteers. National Volunteer Week is an opportunity to celebrate the impact of volunteer service and the power of volunteers to tackle society’s greatest challenges, to build stronger communities and be a force that transforms the world.

The Municipal Volunteer Program (MVP) of the City of Arlington is designed to coordinate and manage citywide volunteer efforts to enhance the community in which you live. The program addresses community service needs while placing special emphasis on the City’s program objectives. The MVP is designed to effectively match individuals and other interested parties in providing volunteer services to City Departments that have exciting and positive volunteer opportunities.

For the previous year, April 1, 2018 – April 1, 2019, we have had 118,498.37 volunteer hours recorded from 2,375 volunteers, for an approximate average of 50 hours per volunteer. According to figures from www.independentsector.org the value of volunteer hours has a projected financial impact on the City of $2,919,799.84 for these recorded hours. This impact is extremely significant in that it allows the City to continue to provide high quality service to the citizens without increasing the financial impact on those that we serve.

We had the opportunity to recognize those individuals over the past year that have contributed a significant amount of their personal time to volunteer service for the City. These individuals were presented with the 2019 Volunteer Service Award, each for recording over 1,000 hours of their personal time. While every hour a volunteer provides to the City is valuable, these individuals have demonstrated a commitment that provides a significant value to those departments and community they serve. The following received the 2019 Volunteer Service Award:

Animal Services Volunteer Karen Rasmussen

  • Kathi Mulkerin – Police Department 1,005 hours
  • Karen Rasmussen – Animal Services 1,014 hours
  • Jude Plauche – Police Department 1,430 hours

Throughout the year, each department is given an opportunity to recognize a volunteer that has shown a high level of commitment and service. This year, we wanted to recognize some of these volunteers collectively at this event. The following individuals received Volunteer of the Year awards from City departments: 

  • Steve Marks - Parks and Recreation
  • Karen Rasmussen - Animal Services
  • Larry Norris - Master Composters
  • Phil Livers - Police
  • Robert Kunze - Fire
  • Robert "Bob" Studer - City Hall
  • Cynthia Stamper – Library

The event featured family friendly fun, games, prizes, and food. Various sponsors donated food and prizes for the volunteers at this event. 

2019 Volunteer Appreciation

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