It’s always good to show appreciation to volunteers, and there’s no better time to do that than National Volunteer Month, which takes place in April.
Oklahoma Home and Community Education (OHCE) members know a thing or two about volunteering. Since its origination in 1935, group members have worked hard to make families more resilient, raised money for scholarships for local high-school students, sewed thousands and thousands of face masks in the height of the pandemic and so much more.
OHCE members are driven and motivated to volunteer. People are motivated to action because they feel a desire within themselves to do something. This is called internal motivation. We do the things we do within our communities, our counties, and the state because we know they make a difference to the residents. We are also motivated by friendship, affiliation, and yes, even fun.
Research shows that individuals often seek to volunteer in groups such as OHCE to help fulfill personal needs that can’t be achieved alone. Two Harvard professors classified volunteer motivators into three types: achievement, affiliation and power, and there’s a place for all three types in the world of volunteering.
Now that cases of COVID are declining, OHCE groups are getting out more and doing more things in person. Groups weren’t meeting in person during the height of the pandemic, but they still worked hard to not let it slow down their goals. Several projects are being working on now that they can do more face-to-face activities.
In 2021, OHCE groups around the state made a big splash with all of their community activities, including volunteering nearly 78,400 service hours valued at more than $2.1 million; raising $466,881 for community projects; and completing 25,828 hours of exercise time.
OHCE members are a valuable asset to their communities. They are prime examples of what it means to be a volunteer.
Blaine County has two OHCE groups-Domestic Engineers and Pleasant Valley.
Find more information about OHCE by contacting the OSU Extension Center in Blaine County located in the basement of the county courthouse at 580-623- 5195. Blaine County is on the web at http://www.extension.okstate.edu/county/blaine or like our Facebook page: Blaine County OSU Extension. Feel free to email Extension Educator Dana Baldwin at dana.baldwin@okstate.edu.