Want to help our troops? Help them volunteer in the community.
Nonprofits can be the setting where U.S. traditions of military service and community service come together.
The traditional approach to volunteering and our veterans has been to encourage Americans to get involved at local organizations as a way to support the troops. By partnering with organizations that deliver services and programs to vets, active military personnel, or military families, Americans can do their part to salute the men and women who protect and defend our nation.
But there's another way volunteering can help troops: by providing our active and veteran forces with ways to find meaning and purpose in our local communities after they return home.
Target and VolunteerMatch Respond to Help Returning Servicemen and Women Find Service Opportunities
On Veterans Day, VolunteerMatch and Target Corporation announced a new partnership to make it easier for veterans to find service opportunities, for citizens to support the military through community service, and for service organizations to more effectively recruit volunteers in local communities.
The partnership is a response to a new report written by Civic Enterprises and underwritten by Target and the Case Foundation that found that veterans who had participated in service opportunities since arriving home from Iraq and Afghanistan had smoother transitions than those who had not.
To make it easy for visitors to find military-related volunteer offerings, VolunteerMatch has added a new Interest Area, "Military Families & Veterans," to the VolunteerMatch system.
By choosing "Veterans & Military Families" for their listings, organizations make it possible for visitors to the VolunteerMatch Advanced Search page or any of our hundreds of network partner sites will be able to quickly find ways to get involved at thousands of local organizations.
Military service and community service are both strong in our nation, and volunteering at local organizations is a great way for these traditions to come together to strengthen local communities. We salute the men and women who defend our nation and we're proud to do our part to help ease their transition home.
More in Engaging Volunteers, the VolunteerMatch blog for social change organizations.
For More Information Contact:
Director of Communications
VolunteerMatch
415.241.6865
www.volunteermatch.org
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