This is a delayed post.  Work and umpiring has limited my blogging, but I don’t want to miss sending this one, late though it may be.

National Volunteer Week for 2010 ran from April 18th to the 24th and I just wanted to send out a note to all the volunteers who help our school district and the rest of our community get so many things accomplished for Cheltenham.

Someday I hope to look back on my career with some amount of pride, but I suspect it will not be the accomplishments at work that will rise to the top of my list of pleasurable moments.  Instead, I want the accomplishments that I shared in building a better community for our families and especially our children will be the ones that mean the most.

Because I am fairly certain that folks who read this blog are involved in some local volunteer activity, because we all stand on the shoulders of so many volunteers (mostly unseen) who work tirelessly everyday to make our little part of the world a better place, and because it is often the very last thing that any volunteer needs to hear, I want to stop and say THANKS!

Thanks for helping out.  Thanks for recognizing a need and filling that need.  Thanks for your long hours and thanks for never asking for recognition.

I hope I join with you in saying thanks, also, to your families and friends who understand your commitment to volunteerism.  They, too, are making a sacrifice so that you can offer your skills, talents, and services to the community.

As a community, we simply cannot accomplish everything we want or need to accomplish without volunteers and, because I am one, I know that the most important thing anyone can do for a volunteer is to simply say thanks and to take your efforts and build on them.  Volunteers don’t need gifts or banners or parades.  Volunteers are happy to know that they are building, little by little, a better world for everyone.

Thanks.  Let’s keep building together.