VolunteerLEON's Featured Story - January 2006

Make a resolution to get involved in "neighboring"!

In our community and in communities across America, the spirit of self-sufficiency and "giving back" is alive and well – and solving local problems. "Neighboring" is bringing residents in neighborhoods facing tough challenges together with local community members, businesses, churches, and other stakeholders to meet community needs like never before. It involves building on the real assets of a community to create more tightly knit communities with residents who have the commitment and capacity to better their lives.

Look around and you'll find that neighboring is already going on all around our community. Though not called "volunteering," people are giving to each other and helping each other. One recent study found that 69% of people who volunteer as adults reported one or both of their parents had set an example by volunteering when they were young. Volunteering – Neighboring – is a spirit that can be inherited.

You can build the wealth of our community through volunteering and neighboring. Paying real attention to our fellow citizens and looking for solutions that we can build with our own hands – these are the gifts we can give to each other that make our communities and our country great.  That's a legacy of which we can be proud.

The bottom line is: Volunteering works. And today, more people are giving of their time to serve their neighbors. Consider making neighboring or volunteering as your New Year's resolution!

Get more information on local volunteer programs who need your help!

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