Sure, it\u2019s National Volunteer Week, but what really pushed me to write this blog was a traffic jam on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
I was on the way into downtown DC, but our area has plenty of winding back roads, and I found myself stuck in a long line of cars pretty far back from an intersection. I couldn\u2019t see what the issue was, but I saw that the line was moving. Whatever it was, some kind of progress was happening.<\/p>\n
When I got up closer to the intersection, I saw that a pair of cars were pulled off to the side of the road, following what appeared to be a minor fender bender. Nobody seemed to be hurt, but obviously it was a high-stress situation for everyone involved, including those in the long lines of traffic that extended in every direction.<\/p>\n
In the middle, though, was this guy. Or, I should say, this volunteer.<\/p>\n
Volunteers meet the need<\/h2>\n
Standing in the middle of this messy intersection was a man directing traffic with precision and skill. He was in jeans and a polo shirt, but he had the solid posture and total confidence of someone in charge. Maybe he was an off-duty police officer, maybe he was in the military, but he was definitely the clear-headed authority in a tangle of stress and confusion.<\/p>\n
He was a volunteer.<\/p>\n
When it was my turn to pass through the intersection, I rolled down my window to give him a loud \u201cThank you!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re welcome,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
From this description, maybe it sounds like this guy was just naturally bossy and wanted to be in the middle of things. Maybe it sounds like he was taking an unnecessary risk, putting himself in harm\u2019s way. I think the reality is that he saw something that needed to be done and he stepped in.<\/p>\n
Service: It’s what you do<\/h2>\n<\/div>\nThis is what volunteers do. From identifying an issue to taking action, volunteers are driven by a desire to be helpful. I\u2019ve been volunteering for most of my life, and I\u2019ve seen people give more than seemed possible for little to no reward. Sometimes it\u2019s an individual effort, and sometimes it\u2019s a non-profit organization that just gets it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nFrom Girl Scouts to Peace Corps, and with the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia and Casey Trees, I\u2019ve seen so many volunteers give in so many different ways. Giving means sharing time, sharing skills, and sharing resources<\/a>. Within the last year, we\u2019ve conducted a warm clothing drive for Cornerstones and a blood drive for the American Red Cross, we\u2019re delivering for Meals on Wheels in our local community, and we\u2019re always looking for more ways to be of service.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nService is one of our key values<\/a> at Sogolytics, and it\u2019s one of my personal priorities. To the man directing traffic, thank you. To the invisible forces that make so many things work better, thank you. To volunteers everywhere: Thank you!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"volunteer\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/GettyImages-1096104342-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
<\/div>\nWant to learn more about Sogolytics and our values?<\/strong> Check us out<\/a>! Want to check in with your own volunteers? Try this Volunteer Satisfaction Survey template<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This one goes out to the ones I love: volunteers. Sure, it\u2019s National Volunteer Week, but what really pushed me to write this blog was a traffic jam on Wednesday. I was on the way into downtown DC, but our area has plenty of winding back roads, and I found myself stuck in a long line of cars pretty far back from an intersection. I couldn\u2019t see what the issue was, but I saw that the line was moving. Whatever it was, some kind of progress was happening. When I got up closer to the intersection, I saw that a pair of cars were pulled off to the side of the road, following what appeared to be a minor fender bender. Nobody seemed to be hurt, but obviously it was a high-stress situation for everyone involved, including those in the long lines of traffic that extended in every direction. In the middle, though, was this guy. Or, I should say, this volunteer. Volunteers meet the need Standing in the middle of this messy intersection was a man directing traffic with precision and skill. He was in jeans and a polo shirt, but he had the solid posture and total confidence of someone in charge. Maybe he was an off-duty police officer, maybe he was in the military, but he was definitely the clear-headed authority in a tangle of stress and confusion. He was a volunteer. When it was my turn to pass through the intersection, I rolled down my window […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":5066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,75],"tags":[578,579,394],"yoast_head":"\n
Volunteers: Thank you for your service. - Sogolytics Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whether it's untangling traffic jams or delivering food to those in need, volunteers make the difference. National Volunteer Week and every day, thank you!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Volunteers: Thank you for your service. - Sogolytics Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whether it's untangling traffic jams or delivering food to those in need, volunteers make the difference. National Volunteer Week and every day, thank you!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sogolytics Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-12T13:42:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-15T02:36:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/about-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"487\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"714\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Melissa Krut\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/\",\"name\":\"Volunteers: Thank you for your service. - Sogolytics Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-12T13:42:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-15T02:36:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eaf04ab90baaf0bb1e137e6c82f51d07\"},\"description\":\"Whether it's untangling traffic jams or delivering food to those in need, volunteers make the difference. National Volunteer Week and every day, thank you!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Volunteers: Thank you for your service.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Sogolytics Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eaf04ab90baaf0bb1e137e6c82f51d07\",\"name\":\"Melissa Krut\",\"description\":\"Melissa seeks balance in all things: the rush of running and the quiet of yoga, what's gained in learning and what's given in teaching, and the pleasures of reading and writing. Her desk would be a hammock, if she could swing it. Meet Melissa.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/author\/mkrut\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Volunteers: Thank you for your service. - Sogolytics Blog","description":"Whether it's untangling traffic jams or delivering food to those in need, volunteers make the difference. National Volunteer Week and every day, thank you!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Volunteers: Thank you for your service. - Sogolytics Blog","og_description":"Whether it's untangling traffic jams or delivering food to those in need, volunteers make the difference. National Volunteer Week and every day, thank you!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/","og_site_name":"Sogolytics Blog","article_published_time":"2019-04-12T13:42:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-15T02:36:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":487,"height":714,"url":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/about-3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Melissa Krut","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/","url":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/","name":"Volunteers: Thank you for your service. - Sogolytics Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-04-12T13:42:16+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-15T02:36:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eaf04ab90baaf0bb1e137e6c82f51d07"},"description":"Whether it's untangling traffic jams or delivering food to those in need, volunteers make the difference. National Volunteer Week and every day, thank you!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/volunteers-thank-you-for-your-service\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Volunteers: Thank you for your service."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/","name":"Sogolytics Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eaf04ab90baaf0bb1e137e6c82f51d07","name":"Melissa Krut","description":"Melissa seeks balance in all things: the rush of running and the quiet of yoga, what's gained in learning and what's given in teaching, and the pleasures of reading and writing. Her desk would be a hammock, if she could swing it. Meet Melissa.","url":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/author\/mkrut\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46498"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60532,"href":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46498\/revisions\/60532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sogolytics.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
This is what volunteers do. From identifying an issue to taking action, volunteers are driven by a desire to be helpful. I\u2019ve been volunteering for most of my life, and I\u2019ve seen people give more than seemed possible for little to no reward. Sometimes it\u2019s an individual effort, and sometimes it\u2019s a non-profit organization that just gets it<\/a>.<\/p>\n From Girl Scouts to Peace Corps, and with the Literacy Council of Northern Virginia and Casey Trees, I\u2019ve seen so many volunteers give in so many different ways. Giving means sharing time, sharing skills, and sharing resources<\/a>. Within the last year, we\u2019ve conducted a warm clothing drive for Cornerstones and a blood drive for the American Red Cross, we\u2019re delivering for Meals on Wheels in our local community, and we\u2019re always looking for more ways to be of service.<\/p>\n Service is one of our key values<\/a> at Sogolytics, and it\u2019s one of my personal priorities. To the man directing traffic, thank you. To the invisible forces that make so many things work better, thank you. To volunteers everywhere: Thank you!<\/p>\n Want to learn more about Sogolytics and our values?<\/strong> Check us out<\/a>! Want to check in with your own volunteers? Try this Volunteer Satisfaction Survey template<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This one goes out to the ones I love: volunteers. Sure, it\u2019s National Volunteer Week, but what really pushed me to write this blog was a traffic jam on Wednesday. I was on the way into downtown DC, but our area has plenty of winding back roads, and I found myself stuck in a long line of cars pretty far back from an intersection. I couldn\u2019t see what the issue was, but I saw that the line was moving. Whatever it was, some kind of progress was happening. When I got up closer to the intersection, I saw that a pair of cars were pulled off to the side of the road, following what appeared to be a minor fender bender. Nobody seemed to be hurt, but obviously it was a high-stress situation for everyone involved, including those in the long lines of traffic that extended in every direction. In the middle, though, was this guy. Or, I should say, this volunteer. Volunteers meet the need Standing in the middle of this messy intersection was a man directing traffic with precision and skill. He was in jeans and a polo shirt, but he had the solid posture and total confidence of someone in charge. Maybe he was an off-duty police officer, maybe he was in the military, but he was definitely the clear-headed authority in a tangle of stress and confusion. He was a volunteer. When it was my turn to pass through the intersection, I rolled down my window […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":5066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,75],"tags":[578,579,394],"yoast_head":"\n<\/p>\n