For the past several months I have posted a volunteer spotlight as a way to thank some of the various, wonderfully dedicated volunteers at our organization. It has been a great way to demonstrate the amazing work they do to help API continue to educate and support parents walking along their AP journey.
The following forms of support would not have been made possible without the assistance of our staff of volunteers:
•The creation of our brand new Web site with our new logo, colors and wealth of updated and accurate information available to parents worldwide
•API’s fabulous forum that now supports more than 700 parents and that number continues to climb each day
•FAQs that are well written and edited so that we can clearly answer some of the most common questions parents have
•Amazing digital and print publications which provide heart warming stories, research and AP news to families
•Many terrific affiliated support groups in communities throughout the world
•API Speaks with its editor, contributing editor and our list of insightful bloggers!
These are just a handful of the many offerings that API has been able to produce and put forth, especially over the course of a short 10 months, and they would continue to sit on shelves in our minds if we didn’t have dedicated volunteers willing to help them come to fruition. Our organization survives and thrives on the efforts of our volunteers.
A little known fact about our staff is that most all of them are volunteers. Very few people are paid within API. Even those people work more than the few hours than they individually contract for and so, are still technically volunteers. Another awesome fact is that we have over 100 volunteer leaders who work hard within their community sharing their Principles and values with others who either know, or are trying to determine, what theirs are or will be once their sweet babes are born. I could go on with more interesting facts but for the sake of space, I will resist the temptation. 🙂
The overarching theme for our volunteers seems to be that they each have this drive and zeal to help out when they know what the impact of their volunteering has on other families across the world. Some can only donate an hour a week and others are donating 10 or more. It all depends on their family’s circumstances and the time that they can afford to donate. I hope that they each know that even their one hour a week makes all the difference to the level of support that API offers to parents who contact us and for that, we will be eternally grateful.
This week I would like to tweak the usual Volunteer Spotlight and personally focus a bit on how our amazing, new Executive Director, Samantha Gray interacts with our team of volunteers.
Samantha has an amazing Curriculum Vitae and brings an exceptional level of experience to our organization (see the most recent issue of the Journal for more information). When she began in April she was greeted by staff members asking for a bit of an internal reorganization simply because we have grown by leaps and bounds over the past 10 months when it comes to internal support and external offerings. She came up with an excellent plan that has each of working much more efficiently and she did it all while considering our personal strengths and individual accomplishments. She has done a thorough evaluation of our organization and is furthering her efforts to ensure that we have a fabulous working environment and sturdy foundation to grow upon. Samantha encourages autonomy and believes in each volunteer’s capabilities but is always willing to work with you in ways that you need, or help you find the right course for what you are working on, if you ask.
She is a conscious, empathic leader, a champion of AP and API and it shows in the work that she has done in the short 4 months that she has been our Executive Director. API will continue to grow in unprecedented ways and it will do so under her capable and loving hands and each of us is thrilled to be working with her.
Thank you very much Samantha for all that you are doing to continue to increase the level of support and education that families receive from API. Your work and care is not unnoticed and definitely not under appreciated. Thank you also to your sweet family for their support and encouragement. We are glad to have them as an extended part of our team as well!
If you believe in the value of our mission to educate and support all parents in raising secure, joyful, and empathic children in order to strengthen families and create a more compassionate world, please join with us today.
Check out API’s list of volunteer positions. Please know that this list is not comprehensive. If you have talents and experience that you feel would further our mission but don’t see a position listed to highlight your skills, please email Brandy so that we can chat about the possibilities! We are also open to altering positions as needed to meet the needs of our volunteers and their families.
Warmly,
Brandy Lance
API Volunteer Liaison
“Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in.”
Marjorie Moore, Minds Eye Information Service, Belleville, IL, USA
Very nice, Brandy, and thank you. I will add that people often ask me how it’s going. I love, then, getting the chance to respond what a gift it is to work with an amazing team of dedicated volunteers and watch each of us and API serve and grow. I hope readers will take what you’ve shared about volunteering and consider how they might use their talents for API’s mission. Thank you to all of the volunteers!
Samantha