2024 Volunteer Impact Report

We are excited to share the 2024 Volunteer Impact Report and take a look at how much impact you have made in our Middle Tennessee communities in the last year! While this report focuses only on GNRC opportunities directly, we are grateful for our partner agencies and all of you, who have connected with them, through our volunteer portal. Every act of service-big or small-helps make our community stronger. Thank you for showing up and making a difference!

2024 Overview

Last year, 2,026 volunteers contributed 19,053 hours of service to GNRC opportunities, which is valued by the Independent Sector at an impressive $638,085. Of those 2026 volunteers, 891 volunteered individually and 1135 volunteered with a team. We were excited to welcome 700 new users to the volunteer portal. The average volunteer hours per volunteer have increased over the last year to 20.36 hours. An impressive 31 volunteers contributed 100+ hours of volunteer service. Thank you for sharing your time and talent! 

Compassion in Action: Helping Older Adults and Disabled Individuals Thrive

You made it possible to create meaningful change in Middle Tennessee and directly touch the lives of 25,730 individuals through the volunteer opportunities with the Aging and Disability Services Department.

The letter campaign continues to be going strong and is wonderfully supported by you. 1,837 residents were able to enjoy regular monthly encouragement through your kind and creative letters. Thank you for helping us make the older and disabled adults smile and feel seen. You sent a total of 19,016 letters in 2024 and together we reached the incredible milestone of 107,284 letters sent since the inception of the letter campaign in April 2020.

Friendly Visitors with the Guardianship program bring incredible compassion and kindness to their clients. 14 Friendly Visitors made 288 visits to 15 clients in 2024. Additionally, volunteers generously contributed to GNRC Angel Tree, so 42 guardianship clients could receive items from their wish lists for the holidays. The smiles were bright when they received your thoughtful gifts. Overall volunteers gave 523 hours to the guardianship program.

Medicare is quite complicated to navigate for the majority of eligible individuals. The Medicare Counseling Program at GNRC, also called State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP), provides counseling to help beneficiaries make sense of their options. Assistance is free and unbiased for anyone who has questions. Volunteers with this program go through extensive training so they can provide counseling, and the impact of their work is quite impressive.

In 2024, volunteers with the Medicare Counseling Program counseled 8,440 clients on-one. Counseling sessions took on average 44 minutes. Broken down by day, volunteers counseled about 33 clients per business day. The counseling sessions lead to 287 enrollments in Prescription Drug Plans or Medicare Advantage Plans by the volunteer counselors, which saved an estimated* $1,066,000 total, which breaks down to an estimated annual savings of $3,700 per beneficiary in insurances premiums. 

In addition, volunteers gave 53 community presentations that reached 1,166 people and staffed 77 booths at community events to spread awareness of the program and chat with event attendees. Through the events 13,686 people learned about SHIP. Volunteers contributed a total of 10,341 hours to the program, ensuring we were able to reach around 5% of the eligible Medicare population in Middle Tennessee.

GNRC is excited about its pilot of a Friendly Neighbor program that is designed to bring more social connection and help with small tasks to clients who would benefit from the extra attention and connection. Our first volunteer with the program spent 31+ hours making visits to her client, assisting with reading mail and simply having conversations.

We also had a Friendly Neighbor Program Kick-off Meeting at Trevecca Towers, a residential facility for older adults. 5 volunteers participated and spent a total of 13.5 hours interacting with 32 residents. Volunteers provided individual cell phone instructions to residents, played bingo, and were matched for ongoing friendly visits with clients at the tower.

Two wonderful volunteers organized a holiday decoration and gift drive for Wedgewood Towers which was very well received by the residents.

In August, we had the unique opportunity to partner with the Home Delivered Meal Programs we support in Middle Tennessee to provide Wellness Bags for each program participant. Two wonderful volunteers (and a couple of staff) spent 4 hours putting together those 400 Wellness Bags.

TennCare satisfaction surveys are a required part of a contract we have with TennCare. We were extremely fortunate to have one volunteer help us with that process in 2024, conducting 12 of the comprehensive surveys with clients in nursing homes.

GNRC staff are highly appreciative of the 28 volunteers who spent 210 hours supporting administrative tasks with the Aging and Disability Department. Volunteers helped with scanning and digitalizing files, shredding files, data entry, preparing informational folders for partners, and assisting the Quality Assurance Program with satisfaction surveys for the home delivered meals programs.

Accessibility of information in multiple languages is important to us, so that more people can easily access services. Thank you to the two lovely bilingual volunteers who spent 12 hours translating transportation surveys and information for the Coordinated Human Services Transportation Improvement Plan as well as translated and recorded a Medicare 101 presentation into Spanish.

*Medicare savings are based on initial internal estimates and have not yet been validated by ACL.

A Look at Community Impact Through Volunteer Service

Volunteering is at the heart of building strong, connected communities. It's about more than just giving your time - it's about making a lasting impact that can be felt across neighborhoods, organizations, and entire regions. Our dedicated volunteers have demonstrated just how powerful their contributions can be, all while helping to shape the future of arts, transportation, and planning. Here's a look at how these amazing individuals have stepped up to make a difference:

Supporting Local Arts Initiatives

Seven volunteers recently dedicated a total of 78.5 hours to reviewing and scoring 52 grant applications for the Art Builds Community Grant Program. This program plays a pivotal role in supporting local arts initiatives, helping projects that foster creativity, engagement, and cultural growth. Thanks to the volunteers' hard work and expert recommendations, the TN Arts Commission awarded grants to 41 deserving applicants.

Volunteer Efforts that Drive Progress

In addition to the arts, one volunteer committed a remarkable 100.5 hours to assisting the Community and Regional Planning Department with transportation planning work. By diving deep into the intricacies of local transportation needs, this volunteer is helping to pave the way for more efficient and effective infrastructure. Their time and knowledge will support long-term solutions for improved mobility, access, and safety for the community.

Photography for Local Planning

Three talented volunteers put their photography skills to use in a big way. Over the course of 33 hours, they captured stunning images for publications tied to the Wilson County and Rutherford County Comprehensive Plans. These photos are more than just visuals - they represent the unique character, progress, and potential of these counties as they look to the future.

Special thanks and photo credit to Vicente Herrera, whose phenomenal photography helped bring these plans to life. The images will play an essential role in sharing the vision for these regions with the public and stakeholders alike.

A Heartfelt Thank You to Our Volunteers

The hours and expertise that these volunteers have contributed to their communities are invaluable. They've given their time to help shape decisions that will impact the arts, transportation, and urban planning for years to come. Whether it's reviewing grant applications, assisting with planning work, or capturing the beauty of our communities, we can't thank them enough for their hard work and dedication.