Unpaid & Unseen: How Volunteers Make Vancouver Better
Volunteering is like an invisible web that both builds and binds communities together. From Meals on Wheels and food banks, to diaper dispensaries and homeless shelters, these vital programs could not function without the time of dedicated volunteers—and the benefits go far beyond the dollars spent or the individuals helped. Dividends accrue as new friendships are forged and those who receive help “pay it forward” down the road. Plus, helping others increases one’s own happiness, too. Here in Clark County, there are multiple ways to get involved, for an hour or an afternoon.
Rori Dicker is one local volunteer who enjoys her time serving. She is not affiliated with any specific group, organization or faith community, yet you can find her serving wherever there is a need. Dicker lived in California before moving to Clark County. Her personal outreach to homeless and traumatized individuals began with Project Homeless Connect in Santa Cruz. Today, she helps coordinate Thrive2Survive while also volunteering at Winer Hospitality Overflow Shelters (WHO), Vancouver Farmers Market, YWCA and Share. Across these organizations, Rori has worked with volunteers from diverse backgrounds who are totally united in their desire to help others. She’s seen that amazing things happen when people of different beliefs bring what they have to the table to accomplish a common goal. Dicker says, “If I could create the poster of the perfect volunteer, it would be a set of hands extending outward in a circle of all sizes, ages and colors.”
Dicker knows that despite the negativity and divisiveness that seems to be everywhere, there are countless untold stories of people helped, and lives changed for the better through the work of unpaid volunteers who are not known to many, but who can be heroes to those whose lives they touch. While volunteer opportunities come from many secular sources, Clark County’s faith community is often at the forefront of aiding those in need. Here are just a few of those stories and their impact in Clark County.
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Go here to learn more about Babies in Need, a local organization committed to helping young families start off on the right foot
