What's in an hour?
The year before Peggy and I retired, our son was hospitalized for over three months for issues related to his disabilities. During those dark days, as we walked the hospital halls we occasionally heard piano music floating up from the atrium, and we would see a red-shirted volunteer at the keyboard.
We would stop and listen for a few minutes and find that the gentle music made things seem a little better. Obviously, nothing measurable changed in our situation, but I always felt that when we returned to Ross’s room, our capacity to cope had been refreshed.
That is one way to look at the impact of a volunteer’s service.
I carried with me those musical interludes. As my retirement day approached, I began to think maybe I could revive and revamp the guitar skills of my college days and do something good with them. I knew I would need to develop a completely different set of skills and repertoire to play in that environment, so I went to work. I signed with an online instructor, and five years later I auditioned at the hospital that had treated my son so well. I soon found myself playing next to the piano in the atrium, and later I was asked to play in the more intense setting of the surgery waiting room.
The thank-yous and warm smiles I get from visitors and staff suggest the music does make a difference. And I’ve gotten a few other musicians to join me by posting the opportunity on the University Retirees Volunteer Center website. That pianist I heard so many years ago would have no idea of this outcome/impact of his volunteer work.
Volunteer work is usually evaluated according to “replacement rate” figures based on hourly wages. But when I think of this experience, or many of the other volunteer activities URVC supports, I can’t help but think of the ripple effects of one hour of service: the unquantifiable impacts of people giving their time and talents for something or someone beyond themselves.
The data on hours contributed and people served are the notes on the page; the music is in the human spirit behind and beyond them.
—Jerry Rinehart, URVC Leadership Council chair
URVC would like to hear your stories of volunteer impacts that are “real” but hard to quantify. Please email Jerry Rinehart to learn more.
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