[SCAW-E-Letter] SCAW E-Letter: Volunteers

[SCAW Webmaster]

National Volunteer Week is April 19 – 24.
“From Compassion to Action”

‘What we do for ourselves alone, dies with us.  What we do for others
and the world, remains and is immortal.’
— Albert Pine.

Highlights from the 2007 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and
Participating;
• Almost 12.5 million Canadians or 46% of the population aged 15 and
over volunteered during the one-year period preceding the survey.
• Canadians volunteered almost 2.1 billion hours in 2007 – the
equivalent of close to 1.1 million full-time jobs.

Sleeping Children is a mosaic of donors, committees, strategists,
volunteers of many denominations in Canada and abroad, all united in
compassion for the children.  In 2009, SCAW celebrated the millionth
bedkit.  In 2010, SCAW is celebrating 40 years of giving bedkits to
children in dire need.  It simply would not have been possible without
the millions of hours given so passionately and vigorously by our
volunteers.

SCAW is a volunteer driven organziation:
• Office volunteers receive donations via Canada Post or online,
complete the data processing of donations, issue tax receipts and
internal reports, and sort/mail the photographs at the end of each
distribution. These are demanding jobs requiring attention to detail,
a weekly commitment and many overtime hours during the Christmas
season from November to February.
•  Travelling volunteers, at their own cost and without the benefit of
a tax receipt, distribute bedkits overseas in exteme climates and
challenging conditions.
• Committee members may also be one of the above.  SCAW is blessed
with talented volunteers who make up the committees that keep us
dynamic and help us manage strategies that integrate our mission with
best business practices and growth.
• Our overseas volunteers are our partners on the ground in each
country.  Complying  with a veritable “magnum opus”  of guidelines
created by SCAW, they select the children, choose the distribution
sites, negotiate the best items for the bedkits at the best prices,
store and transport the bedkits to the sites. They work side by side
with our traveling volunteers to distribute the bedkits.  They also
complete an extensive Financial Reporting Package which accounts for
every penny SCAW wires for the bedkits and which is scrutinized by our
Finance Committee.

With wisdom and foresight, our founders, Murray and Margaret, created
an organization with a unique mission and a keen sense of stewardship,
with 100% of donations for bedkits going to the children.  SCAW is
blessed with a priceless collaboration of volunteers who uphold that
mandate with pride and devotion.

‘The radiance of the human spirit shines in a dark world.’
— Murray Dryden, For the love of his children.

Linda Webb

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Links of Interest.
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The SCAW Togo Team is currently sending us regular live reports. Read
them at this link:
<http://bit.ly/H5ay>
Read about May's Pinehurst Club breakfast at this link:
<http://bit.ly/cxY7X9>
The latest newsletters are available at this link:
<http://bit.ly/sJO5V>

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   www.scaw.org | Zero Overhead | 40 years | Over a million children
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