As mangers in volunteer services, this is a rule of thumb! We see the potential in others and empower them to put their gifts, talents and skills to use. Every day, technology is enabling us to do an even better job of this!

This month:

• We congratulate a website that has assisted many of us in recruiting volunteers.
• We'll visit a really cool volunteer department site at a university.
• We'll also learn how the Internet is used to wish love ones to "get well!"

Enabling, we will go!

Created five years ago, the Webby Awards http://www.webbyawards.com/main/webby_awards/nominees.html is the leading international honor for achievement in technology and creativity. In July volunteermatch.org won two Webby awards, one for Activism category and the other in the Services category.

Congratulations to volunteermatch.org, http://www.volunteermatch.org, a site which uses the power of the Internet to match volunteers with local non-profit and public sector organizations. Working with thousands of local nonprofits, VolunteerMatch has become the web's largest database of volunteer opportunities.

"We are incredibly honored to receive two Webby Awards, and we share this historic honor with the volunteers and nonprofits who have helped make VolunteerMatch so successful," said Jay Backstrand, president and founder of VolunteerMatch." VolunteerMatch is dedicated to helping everyone find a great place to volunteer."

Congratulations, VolunteerMatch.org!

A long-standing service provided by volunteers is delivering mail and cards to patients. At Maine General Hospital http://www.mainegeneral.org and many hospitals across the county, this has expanded to delivering cyber get well cards sent to patients via hospital websites.

Diane Peterson Maine General's Communications Specialist reports that since the hospital started offering the greeting card service in August, 2000 more than 650 cards have been received and delivered.

A special e-mail "mailbox" is set up in the volunteer office at both the hospital campuses in Augusta and Waterville, Maine. The cards are delivered there directly. Staff in the volunteer offices print them out and give them to the volunteers for delivery the same day.

This service has been well relieved by staff, volunteers, patients and their families. Just one more way in which volunteers play a role in cyber service.

The Texas A&M volunteer department website http://givem.tamu.edu is a visually attractive site. The graphics are simple but quite appealing and the site contains very good information on many aspects of volunteerism.

The links include, "Get Involved" which takes you to a searchable database of volunteer opportunities in the community. Each of these volunteer postings lists the agency contact, description and criteria.

Another link, "Looking for Volunteer Ideas?" gives great tips on volunteerism. There is also link which tells of volunteer opportunities on the campus. Overall, a nice site!

Georgean is a trainer and consultant in the areas of nonprofit management and volunteer involvement. She holds a Master's degree in Education/Staff Training and Development and a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from Indiana University.

Georgean is an Adjunct Faculty member of Ivy Tech State College with the Business and Industry Training Department. Her articles have been published in the Florida Libraries Journal and The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances.

Georgean conducts national and regional workshops on Train-the-Trainer, Customer Service, Conflict Management, Staff/ Volunteer Relations, Fundamentals of Volunteer Management, Family Volunteering, Trends in Volunteerism, and other aspects of Volunteer Management.

Georgean is immediate Past Chairperson of the National Government Volunteer Coordinator Advisory Committee for the Points of Light Foundation in Washington, DC. She is Past Chairperson and Founding Officer of Northeast Indiana Association of Volunteer Administration, a professional membership organization representing 60 nonprofit/voluntary organizations. She is a member of the Association for Volunteer Administration, the Points of Light Foundation, and the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action.

Prior to starting her training and consulting company she served for several years as the Manager of Volunteer Services in healthcare, library, and social service organizations, leading programs of 500 volunteers.