Lutheran Community Services celebrates its volunteers

It was an afternoon to give thanks and recognition on Oct. 29 when Lutheran Community Services Northwest held an appreciation event for its Retired and Senior Volunteer Program’s (RSVP) Pierce County volunteers.

Gathering at the Tacoma Area Coalition of Individuals with Disabilities (TACID), it was also a rather rare occasion for these volunteers, program leads and RSVP supporters from local non-profits to all be in one room together since they are always out doing the work at their stations across Tacoma and beyond.

Everyone had the opportunity to reconnect or meet each other for the first time, mingle and talk, enjoy a lunchtime meal together, and to hear from RSVP Program Supervisor, Rena Marken, who recently accepted this position upon the retirement of LCSNW’s RSVP previous manager, Nancy MacFarland.

“We were very pleased to be able to honor our RSVP Pierce County volunteers. This is my first year in this role, so I enjoyed getting to meet some of our volunteers that I hadn’t met yet,” Marken told the Tacoma Weekly.

LCSNW takes great care of its volunteers, and this is shown throughout the year, but appreciation events for its RSVP volunteers in Pierce and Kitsap counties are special moments. At TACID, Pierce County volunteers were presented with certificates and awards for their service, gifts, raffle prizes, volunteer appreciation pins and AmeriCorps pins, as RSVP Pierce County is a program of AmeriCorps Seniors that LCSNW adopted seven years ago.

“AmeriCorps puts a large emphasis on volunteer appreciation and recognition so when we’re creating our budget, we make sure that we very thoughtfully plan for the funds to put on a nice event and honor our volunteers at least once a year, if not more often,” Marken said.

The reasons why RSVP volunteers give of their time and talents are as varied as each individual volunteer. For example, Marlene Hayden helps Catholic Community Services with their congregate meal site at Trinity Lutheran Church in Parkland, one of many volunteer sites, or “stations,” in the RSVP Pierce County roster along with Communities in Schools, Job Carr Cabin Museum, Nourish Pierce County, NW Furniture Bank, St. Clare Hospital, and LCSNW’s programs Santa for Seniors, Senior Friends, Senior Companion Program, Senior Media Services, and Dementia Social Engagement Activities such as Opening Minds through Art, Music and Memories, Memory Café, and Memory Walks.

Hayden started volunteering with RSVP in 2018 just after she retired.

“My mother had been going to the same site, it was under the Red Cross in those days, so I knew about it and thought I’d go check it out,” she said.

At the luncheon, Marken emphasized to all the volunteers what a significant impact they are making, particularly when looking through a financial lens. In Washington state, if an agency were to pay such volunteers a wage, insurance, benefits and taxes, it would equal $40.28 an hour.

“In the past 12 months, Pierce County RSVP has logged 7,656 hours of service. If you calculate that by $40.28, the total comes to $308,384 that has gone into our Pierce County programs and community just from your service time,” she said.

“This is one of the big reasons why you are being honored today. I want to say how much I appreciate you doing what you do for the agency that you’re connected with.”

Looking forward, LCSNW’s commitment to its volunteers will continue to be a top priority.

As Marken said, “Our goal in 2025 is to focus on volunteer recruitment, enhancement, training opportunities, and focusing on their needs and interests. I’ll be sending out a survey to our volunteers to find out what we can give to them and help them that they haven’t received in the past or feel like they are not receiving currently. What ideas do they have? What do they want to see happen?”

Learn more about RSVP at lcsnw.org/program/retired-senior-volunteer-program-rsvp.