Volunteers are the heartbeat of our mission to reach Ohioans where they live and work.
Whether volunteers are part of an official organized group – such as our Master Gardener Volunteers or 4-H youth development volunteers – or are simply community members who reliably show up to hand out nametags, each one of them plays a crucial role in our organization. As we wrap up National Volunteer Week, I hope you take a few minutes to thank those who continually show up for us. We couldn’t have the impact we do without each one of them.
Thank you, too, for any volunteer service you give outside of your affiliation with OSU Extension. Maybe you volunteer at a food bank. Maybe you read to nursing home residents. Maybe you’re just “on call” for anytime your community needs someone to step up. Thank you for it all.
Volunteers by the Numbers: In 2023, there were 24,167 adult and youth volunteers who invested their time in Ohio 4-H youth development. In the same year, more than 3,000 Master Gardener Volunteers contributed 162,000+ hours of volunteer time. And nearly 700 Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalists spent just shy of 90,000 hours raising awareness of the environment and natural resources in the state.
Best, David