Happy New Year!
GNRC had a busy 2023 and you have made an incredible impact through all your various contributions. We are excited to share the numbers with you and report on the many activities that wouldn't have been possible without your support.
We were excited to have had 2,008 active volunteers involved in programming activities in 2023. Together, you gave 20,259 hours to make an impact in Middle Tennessee communities. According to the Independent Sector your volunteer time is valued at $569,673.24. Impressive!
Volunteers averaged a contribution of 10.1 hours annually. 28 volunteers logged 100 hours or more. The individual volunteer with the largest time contribution gave 980.77 hours of her time in 2023. Thank you so much, Nancy Parker! That is truly exceptional!
It has been lovely to see 993 new users in the volunteer portal. Welcome! Hopefully, 2023 was a good start to your volunteer journey with us. We are also delighted to see that more than 34% of you have participated in more than one volunteer opportunity this year.
While this report focuses only on volunteerism with GNRC programs, we also want to thank our partner agencies on the volunteer portal and you for helping to connect with them and meeting their various volunteer needs. We are stronger as a community, and we are grateful that you show up.
We continue to be impressed by your tenacity for the Letter Campaign. Since the inception of the campaign in April 2020, you have sent 88,268 letters. Your letters have uplifted seniors and disabled individuals in nursing homes and assisted living facilities and brought countless smiles and lots of joy. We are grateful for your continued partnership. In 2023 volunteers have written a total of 23,936 letters, which was an increase of about 5% over 2022. This year we had 823 individual volunteers and 1,008 group volunteers who participated in writing the letters. A total of 9,284 hours was logged for writing the letters.
GNRC's Medicare Counseling Program, which is part of the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) is another one of those programs that wouldn't be able to function without volunteers who are willing and able to learn all things Medicare and then counsel others regarding their questions and personal situations, so they can learn to navigate the Medicare maze. Not only do volunteers put in an extensive amount of time for initial and annual training, but they often also drive to a variety of events across the region. Thank you!
124 volunteers spent 9,738.67 hours assisting the Medicare Counseling Program through Administrative support, outreach events, presentations, and client counseling. 14,615 beneficiaries were reached at 140 outreach events and presentations and 7,296 one-on-one counseling sessions were held between a volunteer counselor and a client.
In the second half of 2023 volunteers enrolled 262 beneficiaries in a new prescription drug plan which led to reducing their insurance plan cost and an average of annual savings of almost $2,054 per beneficiary. That's an impactful number for those beneficiaries and a large burden off their shoulders.
Known as Friendly Visitors, volunteers are an integral part of GNRC's Guardianship program as they provide much needed social connections and additional attention and care for our clients. Clients greatly benefit from the conversation and activities, and it increases the client's overall wellbeing. In 2023, 18 Friendly Visitors made 292 visits to clients. In addition, we had 24 individual volunteers, and 2 volunteer groups provided 32 clients with their wish list items through GNRC's Angel Tree. Clients were able to receive much needed clothing, hygiene, or personal care items through this program. They were thrilled receiving these special gifts. Volunteers contributed a total of 464.85 hours to serve the program clients. Thank you for your time!
3 volunteers spent 46 hours of their time providing support to the communications team. They worked on photography, editing, writing up biographies, social media posts, and creating email lists. Thank you!
For the first time this year we had a volunteer regularly supporting our Planning Department. Tom provided 67 hours of his time sharing his transportation and transit planning expertise with the Community and Regional Planning Department. The department went through drastic changes this year and Tom's expertise and support have been invaluable to the team.
As in previous year GNRC has facilitated the Arts Build Community grant review process in cooperation with the TN Arts Commission. 4 volunteers well versed in the arts in their community served as judges for the Art Builds Community grant program spending a total of 35 hours evaluating proposals for funding by the TN Arts Commission.
We had a variety of administrative projects in 2023. A total of 37 volunteers spent 623.27 hours helping with administrative tasks supporting our HR, Legal, Aging and Office Support teams. Volunteers completed several large digitalizing projects for the HR and Legal department as well as provided ongoing support to staff. Getting the two big digitalizing projects out of the way was a huge lift especially and we wouldn't have been able to complete these projects without the help of dedicated volunteers giving their time to thoroughly complete the projects. Files are now easily accessible online, and you have cleared quite an impressive amount of space with all those files now gone.
We are thrilled to have you involved in our volunteer program. You truly make a direct positive impact for our clients and on your community through your volunteering - may it be big or small. Every kind and thoughtful action makes a difference and this world just a little bit better. Thank you for all you have done in 2023! We are excited to step into 2024 with you. Please let us know how we can support you. We'd love to hear your ideas and make them a reality.
Warmly,
Your GNRC Team
