Dallas is a city of volunteers. In fact, in a 1998 study UPS found that 79 percent of Dallas adults volunteered. Nowhere is the city’s spirit of volunteerism more evident than at the Volunteer Center of Dallas County.
Founded in 1971, the Volunteer Center’s mission is to promote volunteerism, and to refer volunteers and other resources to nonprofit agencies. While fulfilling that mission, the Center has grown 434 percent since 1990. Last year, the Center made more than 93,000 referrals to potential volunteers.
In response to such growth, the Volunteer Center recently announced its first-ever capital campaign. David Carruth and Mark Sinclair, co-chairmen of the campaign, report that $5.4 million of the $6.3 million goal has already been raised.
The new Volunteer Center will be a 40,000-square-foot building that is located only two blocks from the Center’s current site in the Wilson Historic District, just east of downtown Dallas.
It is the generosity of The Meadows Foundation that has provided the base for this campaign. Since 1984, the Foundation has furnished rent-free space to the Volunteer Center, and its benevolence continues. It has provided use of the land for the new facility in addition to a grant of $2.5 million towards the $6.3 million goal.
Many other foundations and companies have made significant contributions to the campaign as well. Now the campaign committee is working hard to raise the last $900,000.
“I believe that the Volunteer Center is a cornerstone of this community,” says Sinclair, a neighborhood resident. “I hope others will join our efforts and make a contribution to the future of volunteerism in Dallas.”
For more information about volunteer opportunities or the Volunteer Center’s capital campaign, please call 214/826-6767.
