News

Season of Giving celebrates nonprofits, volunteers

By Lightning Reports, Published: November 26, 2020

For this year’s Season of Giving, our annual salute to nonprofits and the volunteers who make them run, we asked the organizations’ leaders how they’ve managed in the coronavirus pandemic.

The challenges were legion.
At a time when the organizations could no longer raise money through in-person dances, festivals, concerts and dinners, they also saw their volunteer corps decimated because of Covid-19 restrictions. And yet demand for their services went up — whether in education, feeding the needy, mental health services, library support, fostering pets, caring for our youngest and oldest loved ones and more.
The leaders’ answers were impressive. We always knew the folks who run our constellation of charitable organizations were dedicated, creative and hard-working. The theme of this year’s survey answers can be summed up in one more adjective: resilient.
The executive directors who responded to our survey described the many creative ways they had reinvented service delivery, incorporated public health restrictions into their daily operations and gone virtual in fundraising events and annual awards presentations.
For our annual salute to volunteers, agencies nominated their hardest working, most dedicated and most generous contributors to the cause. We asked them what they do in their volunteer job and why and what they recommend people do if they’re thinking about volunteering.
We’re proud to commend the agency directors’ responses and the volunteers’ wise and heartfelt comments for your enjoyment — along with the regular Thanksgiving feast — this week, in the Season of Giving.

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Reporting for Season of Giving were Andrew Dundas, a senior at the UNC at Chapel Hill, and Gracie Milner, a senior at Hendersonville High School.