Kieff (2009)
talked about volunteerism as a form of advocacy, and although I have never
really seen volunteers that way, I am developing a shift in my paradigm of a
volunteer and an advocate. Louise Sparks-Derman (Laureate Education, 2010)
defined an advocate as someone who speaks for the voiceless. So, even if you
were a volunteer helping the unfortunate, you are advocating as well especially
for the voiceless. It was interesting to me that I have volunteered through a
wide variety of settings: short-term, long-term, team, family, and direct. I
have not volunteered in a virtual way yet, but an opportunity might present
itself some day soon.
Today, I am a
volunteer advocate for both a service-oriented and advocacy-oriented nonprofits
(Kieff, 2009). Through my involvement as a volunteer advocate in both
organizations, I have learned from others more seasoned than me. Learning from
the master advocates has helped me improve my advocacy skills. The following
definition describes what the two volunteer masters that I try to emulate have
done:
Volunteering
is the voluntary giving of time and talents to deliver services or perform
tasks with no direct financial compensation expected. Volunteering includes the
participation of citizens in the direct delivery of service to others; citizen
action groups; advocacy for causes, groups, or individuals; participation in
the governance of both private and public agencies; self-help and mutual aid
endeavors; and a broad range of informal helping activities (President’s Task
Force on Private Sector Initiatives, 1982 as cited in Cnaan et al 1996).
Furthermore, the
following definition more narrowly describes why they volunteer:
To
volunteer is to choose to act in recognition of a need, with an attitude of
social responsibility and without concern for monetary profit, going beyond
one’s basic obligations (Ellis and Noyes, 1990 as cited in Cnaan et al 1996).
They always
recognize a need and drum up support to address the need, usually about Deaf
children and their families. They advocate for the individual family, for the
community, and to leave the world a better place than they found it.
I feel lucky to
know these two women, Sheri Farinha and Julie Rems Smario.
References
Cnaan, R.A., Handy, F., & Wadsworth, M.
(September 1996). Defining who is a volunteer: Conceptual and empirical
considerations. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly vol. 25 no. 3 364-383. Retrieved
from: http://nvs.sagepub.com/content/25/3/364.full.pdf+html doi: 10.1177/0899764096253006
Kieff, J. (2009). Informed advocacy in
early childhood care and education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Laureate Education, Inc. (2010) The
passion for early childhood. Baltimore: Author
