 On April 11th, the Fairfax County Public Library Board of Trustees honored 38 Star Volunteers and five Community Service Partner organizations at a buffet dinner at Squire Rockwell's Restaurant and awards ceremony at the George
Mason Regional Library. At the library, Library Board Chair Flint Lewis praised the library's corps of over 3000 volunteers who contributed more than 140,000 hours last year. Delegate Mark Sickles, 43rd District, Virginia House of Delegates, emceed the ceremony, which included a posthumous tribute to Star Volunteer Malcolm "Rich" Richardson. Awards were given for 1,000, 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 hours of service and for exceptional projects and performance. Kate Wanderer was recognized by the Library Board for her service as the library's Volunteer Services Coordinator since 1993.
Malcolm Richardson - Memorial Presentation
 Malcolm "Rich" Richardson, a Virginia Room volunteer since 1989, designed the Fairfax County Historic Newspaper Index and indexed over a million records so that this extraordinary tool could be launched on the Library's Web site in 2001. His contribution to the Virginia Room of over 9,000 volunteer hours allowed historians, archeologists, and genealogy researchers all over the world, as well as Fairfax County staff, to access a gold mine of historical information.
Rich never sought public recognition, but nevertheless received awards from the Fairfax County Library Board, the Board of Supervisors, and the National Association of Counties for his exceptional service. When he passed away in December 2006, it was a loss not just for his family and friends, but for the entire community.
To honor Rich, a memorial plaque will be placed in the Virginia Room of the Fairfax City Regional Library. The Library Board invites Rich's wife Margaret, his son Jonathan, and daughter Amy Lubas - and also Tina Cunningham, Branch Manager of the Fairfax City Regional Library, and Suzanne Levy, Virginia Room Manager - to come forward for the presentation of the plaque.
 Datatel, Inc.
Volunteer teams from Datatel, a consulting firm in
Fairfax, have celebrated their annual Community Day
since 2002 by volunteering at the Fairfax County Public
Library. Last year Reston Regional and Tysons-Pimmit
were fortunate to host Datatel volunteers at Friends
book sales, which netted over $30,000 for library programs
and services. Datatel generously matched its gift of
time this year by donating $1,500 to the Fairfax Library Foundation Accepting the Community
Service Partner Award for Datatel are DeAnn Jelinek
and Florence Upson. DeAnn and Florence have inspired
their Datatel coworkers and library staff by volunteering
at library projects for the past five years.
 Exxon Mobil Corporation
ExxonMobil has been a major contributor to the library over the last seven years, supporting the Fall for the Book Festival and the Children's Foreign Language Collection. Last year, ExxonMobil also contributed grants of $5,500 to the Fairfax Library Foundation on behalf of employees, retirees, and their families who regularly volunteer at the library. The Library Board is pleased to present a 2007 Community Service Partner Award to Nadia Sweakkaew, Public Affairs Advisor, in recognition of ExxonMobil's generous contributions.
Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP)
 The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program is a national organization which matches the personal interests and skills of persons 55 years of age and older with opportunities to meet community needs. Serving northern Virginia is the RSVP Campagna Center, which has partnered with the Fairfax County Public Library since 1989, referring many volunteer applicants to library branches. Membership in RSVP provides perks such as monthly birthday parties, field trips, mileage reimbursement for volunteer travel, and a newsletter, and FCPL volunteers enjoy library programs, a newsletter, book order discounts, and the same borrowing privileges as staff. Our shared goal is to build a corps of older library volunteers who enjoy the benefits of both programs. In appreciation of RSVP's ongoing contributions, the Library Board presents its Community Service Partner Award to Pat Jordan, Chair of the RSVP Advisory Council, and Eric Goodwin, RSVP's Office and Information Manager.
 Tysons Corner Center
Last year, the Tysons-Pimmit
Regional Library had the good fortune to be adopted as a volunteer site by a dynamic team from the new Tysons Corner Center shopping center. Each month, volunteers arrived to work on projects. Indoors, they read the shelves, shifted books, searched for reserved books, and helped with the Friends book sale. The outdoor crew raked, pulled weeds, mulched, planted hostas, and donated and installed a new picnic table and benches. The team was indispensable in making the branch an inviting, accessible place for the public. In addition to these gifts of time, the company donated six buckets of change from the shopping center's fountain to the Fairfax Library Foundation, a gift amounting to $850. For these outstanding contributions, the Board presents its Community Service Partner Award to Lynn Blacker, Marketing Director, and Christie Morgan, Assistant Marketing Director, Tysons Corner Center.
The Volunteer Learning Program
 The Volunteer Learning
Program, a Fairfax County Public Schools tutoring program,
has partnered with the Fairfax County Public Library for over 30 years.
VLP volunteers meet by appointment with learners in library branches throughout
the county to help these individuals prepare for the GED, study for a high
school diploma, or improve reading, writing or math skills. Many hundreds
of Fairfax County residents have been able to explore new educational and
career opportunities due to the efforts of VLP. Accepting the Community
Service Partner Award for VLP are Lorraine
Walker, Program Specialist and Margret
Elliott, Program Assistant.
|
Volunteer Links
 Volunteer Homepage
Volunteer Openings
Position Descriptions
Application Form
Star Volunteer Awards
Volunteer Newsletters
Volunteer Coordinators
College Students
Volunteer Menu
"I volunteer because..."
|
