Every day, throughout San Diego, volunteers make a difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of San Diegans. You may never even know the multitude of ways that volunteers have touched your life.

This is especially true at The San Diego LGBT Community Center. Last year, our amazing Center volunteers contributed 16,707 hours of service. Mere words cannot express the depth of our gratitude to each and every volunteer, whether they’ve given five or 500 hours of their time. They have each made a difference, and have allowed The Center to continue to best fulfill its mission to connect and serve our growing and diverse San Diego GLBT community.

Every year, The Center is able to do more than we may have even imagined because of the hard work of our volunteers. All volunteers share a commitment to service, and our Center volunteers also bring tremendous heart, energy and passion to this organization. We are all better because of their tireless, selfless efforts.

I’ve said this to our volunteers before, but believe we cannot say it enough – it is too rare to find people willing to devote themselves by giving of themselves at such high levels, and even rarer still to find those who are willing to work so hard and to share their time and talents with so little recognition.

Volunteers are such invaluable resources for non-profit organizations. They bring a diverse range of skills and talents, sometimes a new way of doing things that saves us time and money or a vision for a program or a project that they help turn into a reality. Volunteers turn previously daunting or unimaginable tasks into missions accomplished. Simply put, we could not do all that we do without our volunteers, and all those who work for and are served by The Center are in their debt. We can’t thank them enough.

As we very quickly approach 2008, all of our organizations will be looking to volunteers to further support our work. I know many of us make New Year’s resolutions, and some of those include giving back to our community through volunteering. Because our community’s organizations want volunteers to find the place where they can feel great about their contributions, the San Diego LGBT Community Leadership Council has created the LGBT Volunteer Recruitment Fair. This is an opportunity for those who are considering volunteering to meet with representatives from dozens of community organizations to find the best fit for your interests, time and talents.

This year’s third annual volunteer fair will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 9 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at The Center, 3909 Centre St. This free event is the perfect way to make good on that resolution! For more information about the LGBT Volunteer Recruitment Fair, contact Amanda Bejarano-Ligato at 619-692-2077, ext. 210.

If you are already a volunteer at a community-based organization, thank you. If not, please join the ranks of some of San Diego’s finest by becoming a volunteer in 2008. While you’ll positively affect the lives of so many others, you’ll also benefit as well – research shows that volunteering can improve communications skills, and even improve job opportunities or enhance workplace performance. Volunteers feel a genuine sense of satisfaction from helping others, and often develop new and lasting friendships through their volunteer service.

Giving back and self-improvement all in one endeavor? Volunteering has to be the best way to make good on all those resolutions!

Thank you for resolving to make a difference.