I was reminded this week of how important volunteers are to our students and how difficult it is to encourage volunteers to give their time and effort to an organization. The school committee had two volunteer groups attend their last meeting: the executive board of the Gateway Youth Athletic Association (GYAA) and executive members of the Gateway Athletic Booster Club. It was evident from these groups that the two organizations do great work for our students. While GYAA focuses their attention on recreational and travel soccer and basketball programs for the youth of the district towns, the Athletic Boosters focus their attention on our middle and high school student athletes across the many teams we have competing in interscholastic athletics. While the focus at last week’s meeting was on funding and ongoing operational costs, it was easy to discern that both groups are doing much for our students while relying on a relatively small number of volunteers (it should be noted that both groups are nonprofit and no one in either organization gets paid for the work that they do). As with the district and member towns, expenses for these organizations are increasing while revenue at best is flat, meaning that it is becoming more difficult to sustain their operations.
The district’s administrators also received a two-page overview of the Gateway Education Foundation’s funding of programs since the group was revived a few years ago. As with the Booster Clubs and the GYAA, this is an organization that is non-profit and is essentially operated by a small and dedicated group of volunteers (including district staff, alumni, parents and community members) along with a small, but growing, number of donors. Over the past four years, the foundation has awarded over $31,000 for 51 ‘Funds for Learning’ projects. These have ranged across the curricula (Literacy, STEM, history/social studies, performing arts, etc.), have been awarded to projects in each school, and awarded each year from 2012 to the present. For more information on the Foundation, and to view their annual reports, please visit http://www.gatewayeducationfoundation.org/. I also would be remiss if I didn’t mention the great work that our other booster clubs do for our students as think of the various musical (band and chorus) groups and how they’re supported by booster volunteers.
Of course, volunteering for a booster club, GYAA, or the foundation are only a few of the many ways people can volunteer in the district – consider the volunteers that serve on school councils, the school committee, that chaperone field trips, work in a classroom, or provide services to our many student groups and organizations. This year, several volunteers from the community stepped forward to help the high school establish a new Outdoor Club. Each of these individuals makes a difference in the lives of our students and the opportunities they have and this too came across at the last school committee meeting by a student/athlete and student council member who indicated the support she’s received over the years by these groups. In that light, we also should give credit to our students who give much of their time to improving the district, providing for community members through many service projects, and who do much of the planning and work to ensure that other students have opportunities that they wouldn’t have otherwise.
We have a great district with a considerable number of individuals making a difference through their efforts, both for the school and in the greater community. Despite the many benefits coming from the hard work of a small group of people, it does make me wonder how much more could be accomplished if more people volunteered their time – what would that look like if we were able to double, triple, or even quadruple the number of people helping others through volunteerism? Let’s remember what the great anthropologist Margaret Meade wrote, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
