Volunteers of America

Volunteers of America is a nonprofit organization that includes a ministry of service with over 16,000 professional employees that are dedicated to help those in need. The organization has helped more than 2 million people in 46 states and 400 communities to rebuild their lives and also reach their maximum potential.

Volunteers of America has thousands of programs dedicated to human services that include both healthcare and housing. The organization apart from helping two million people in 46 states including, also runs services in Puerto Rico and District of Columbia.

Volunteers of America has been helping people since 1896, by empowering and supporting the most vulnerable groups in America. The non-profit organization has been helping groups such as the elderly, at-risk youth, homeless families and individuals, women and men coming back home from prison, individuals recovering from addictions and people with disabilities.

The ultimate goal of the group is that by touching the hearts and minds of people they will ultimately reach the spirit of those they serve. Their effective services and programs are offered in a highly compassionate way and the organization is dedicated to reaching out to help the less fortunate.

There are approximately 65,000 people that volunteer throughout the United States to help the employees of Volunteers of America. Through the thousands of workers and volunteers the organization is able to reach out to millions of people in need in the United States.

Since the early days of the organization, beginning over 115 years ago, the organization has demanded the highest standards from its employees and volunteers, making sure that the tradition of humanitarian aid remains the same as it was always intended to be.

Volunteers of America prides itself on its ability to increase the number of volunteers each year to better serve the people in the communities where they are represented. Putting people back on track to reaching their full potential.

Purpose

The mission of Volunteers of America is to reach out and uplift people's lives through the knowledge and service of God. In everything Volunteers of America does, they illustrate God's presence and that includes serving the communities and people who are in need.

They measure their own success through the positive changes they are able to bring to the lives of both the individuals and communities in which they serve. They vision a world in which all people are able to live safely with physical, emotional and social wellbeing, justice, spiritual fulfillment and lots of hope.

The goal is to serve those that are underprivileged, the most vulnerable and those who do not have the means to help themselves. Through this service they hope to help people reach their potential to its maximum capacity possible.

They pride themselves on being able to provide specific services for the particular community in which they are located in order to address that individual community's needs. The common thread they try to promote is for homeless people to become self-sufficient and for others to be able to overcome whatever personal crisis is holding them back from reaching their potential.

They foster independence for the disabled and the elderly and help in the positive development of at-risk and troubled children and adolescents. Their goal is long term success of every person and hence, they look at the whole person in order to address the most ongoing and urgent needs.

They ultimately want all people to reach a point of being as self-reliant as they can be, understanding that some are able to be more self-reliant that others. Through more than 100 years of experience Volunteers of America's nationwide network has been tied together by its commitment to human dignity, faith and social justice for everyone. They are committed to the highest standard of service and to being actively involved with both employees and volunteers in all of the communities they serve.

History

The organization was founded in 1896 by Ballington and Maud Booth as they envisioned the movement would reach and uplift the people of America. They both pledged to do whatever was needed and go where ever they needed to make the lives of people in need better. That same call to duty is what guides the organization to this day.

At the turn of the century the founders entered tenement districts to help those deepin poverty and organized summer camps and nurseries for kids and provided housing to single women and men. They also set up the first system of halfway houses in the United States for recently released prisoners.

The Depression almost broke the social welfare system and Volunteers of America was one of the few organizations that were able to mobilize and help millions who became unemployed, homeless and hungry.

The organization helped in many federal housing programs in the 1960s and since the late 1960s has helped to develop more than 300 housing communities in over 30 states.

When the 1970s arrived they became leaders in providing professional nursing care on a long-term basis. Today they own their own nursing facilities and both independent and assisted living residences while still offering home health services.

Entering its second century the organization is one of the nations' most comprehensive and largest human services provider. Through Volunteers of America over two million lives are touched each year across the United States in more than four hundred communities.

As the next century unfolds, Volunteers of America plan to continue providing an unlimited amount of care and to uplift the lives of as many people as possible in the United States. The organization understands that the population is quickly aging and will need much more help in the coming years in and the organization is preparing to be there to help.

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