During April we celebrate National Volunteer Month, honoring the innumerable people who volunteer throughout our county, state, country and world to help those in greater need and build stronger communities. Volunteers are precious to our community as they offer their time, skills and resources as commitments from the heart. Throughout Monmouth County, they are critical to the health and success of cities and towns, schools, hospitals, churches, civic organizations, human service agencies like Family & Children’s Service (FCS), and more.

Through their volunteer experiences, people can gain new skills, develop great friendships, improve their health, grow happier, increase self-awareness, build a better community, and find employment. I began volunteering in Monmouth County almost forty years ago through the Junior League of Monmouth County, a nonprofit organization run solely by volunteers. It is dedicated to training women to become civic leaders and provides multiple opportunities to develop those skills. In addition to working with wonderful women who make a difference and contributing to improving our community, the skills I developed through my League experiences led to a job with Brookdale Community College where I managed a leadership program for emerging community leaders in Monmouth and Ocean Counties. Ultimately, they prepared me for my current position as CEO of FCS.

FCS was founded more than a century ago by a small, compassionate group of volunteers who committed their time and personal resources to purchase toys for impoverished children at Christmas. That same volunteer spirit remains critical to the work that we do today. We have 14 programs targeted to our mission – to provide compassionate care, intervention and education to support people during challenging times in their lives. Many of our programs and services would not exist without the volunteers who believe in that mission, including:

• our Reading Buddies Program where volunteers foster the reading skills of young children in underserved communities
• our SHIP program where volunteers counsel individuals on their Medicare insurance choices
• our Healthy Buddies program where volunteers promote healthy lifestyle choices to school children to combat child obesity
• our Operation Sleighbells program where hundreds of volunteers throughout the community join us to provide clothing, gifts and other necessities to 1500 children in need during the holiday season
• our Thrift Boutique where volunteers help the store staff stock and sell gently used men’s and women’s clothing at deeply discounted prices.

FCS also administers the federal Retired and Senior Volunteer program in Monmouth County. We deploy more than 300 adult volunteers, age 55 and over, to fill the varied needs of area non-profits, including FCS. We are grateful for the lifetime of skills and experience they bring to our programs, and the indelible impact they make in our community.

We also rely on the expertise and dedication of scores of volunteers who develop, implement and support our fundraising events, none of which would happen without their energy, savvy, and hard work.

In the end, we celebrate and thank volunteers for the decision they make to commit their time, experience and resources to building a better community. They inspire us each day with their generosity and commitment to our shared humanity.

Delly Beekman is the CEO of Family & Children’s Service and a lifelong volunteer. Prior to her appointment, Delly served 20 years on the FCS Board of Directors, including two as president. Delly also has an extensive career in volunteerism and advocacy, serving as president of the Association of Junior Leagues International and the Junior League of Monmouth County.