COLORADO SPRINGS — “I get more from it than the people that I serve.”
Gretchen Dunnam volunteers every Tuesday at Marian House in Colorado Springs.
The Catholic Charities program offers meals to anyone who needs something warm to eat.
Dunnam’s now approaching her tenth year volunteering.
“The more you volunteer, the more you want to volunteer, but you got to give it a chance, you know, you find your niche.”
Volunteers are essential to the services offered by Catholic Charities.
Catholic Charities data shows 1,971 volunteers helped the organization in the 2021-2022 fiscal year.
They worked 59,917 hours which is the equivalent of 26 full-time staff.
The value is close to $1.7 million.
“Volunteers are vital to the work that we do at Catholic Charities in every aspect of the organization,” said Catholic Charities for Central Colorado, COO, Lorri Orwig.
Only heading into the near year and out of the holidays Catholic Charities, like many non-profits that rely on volunteers, experiences a post-holiday lull in volunteer hours.
During the holidays so many people offered to help for Thanksgiving and Christmas, the schedule at Marian House filled a month in advance.
It meant some were asked to come another time.
“We hope that nobody felt discouraged that they weren't able to get a slot during the holidays as a volunteer,” said Orwig, ‘Please call back if you did get a ‘no,’ because we have plenty of opportunities for you to get a ‘yes’ now throughout the course of the year.”
Just days after the holiday volunteer spots go unfilled.
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