Dr. Jean Loveland is Assistant Professor, Department of Recreation, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, where she teaches recreation programming courses and conducts workshops for professional and community groups. She holds a Doctorate in Recreation degree from Indiana University.

She serves on the volunteer board of the Carbondale Elderwise Program (an adult day care program), as well as on the administrative and planning boards of her church. Her experiences in community, agency and church recreation include recruiting, training and supervising volunteers.

Do you remember the days of the volunteer? Do you recall that dependable cadre of stalwart citizens who carried us through crisis after crisis? Can you chart the journeys of those workhorses who tirelessly tackled our poorly-defined jobs, served for unspecified terms and even flourished often without a "thank you"? Do you remember the days when a couple of phone calls would yield an equal number of persons who eagerly arrived to "help out a good cause"?

The stalking predators of inflation, government subsidy standards and "hired dependability" have reduced the cadre of the valuable volunteer. No longer does the "in-kind" volunteer service credit for government funding place a bounty on the number of volunteers recruited for recreation and leisure services.

Like other endangered species, the volunteer was sometimes seen as a "nuisance critter" one could not do with nor do without. The path of least resistance was for the professional worker to endure the apparent inconvenience of volunteer service which provided warm bodies without "true efficiency."

This perception occurred partially as a result of training programs and institutions of higher learning being infected by "professionalistic" attitudes toward the volunteer. Graduates of these institutions and programs with recreation curricula had been instructed that paid professionals could handle the recreation programs and services more efficiently and effectively. After all, trained persons knew better what was good for people; what they really needed. These new professionals spent years learning that catechism. The reality that interest and motivation were the "wheels" that got people involved was often obscured by the professionalistic "self-importance" of the career recreation practitioner.

While the professionals researched communication processes and systems information flow, it was often overlooked that volunteers provided automatic links with service organizations, and other community agencies. In addition, volunteers have a wealth of informal contacts to numerous individuals who had leadership skills to conduct an activity, plan a program, or share the appropriate expertise for a given situation.

A smile for Special Olympics.

The verdant pride in a job well done by the volunteer has become blighted by the creeping growth of government-funded programs and projects which paid people to do what volunteers had been doing for free previously. Inflation climbed, taxes increased and the government-hired services depreciated in quality when compared to the personal touch that had often been given by the concerned volunteer. The need for families to have two paychecks to make ends meet, an attitude that "bought" is better than "donated," and a long-term policy of indifference in giving tangible and intangible "pay-offs" to volunteers are all factors contributing to the decrease in available volunteer services.

No longer does an investment in telephone calls yield an equal number of volunteers. No longer does the energetic chirp "what can I do to help?" echo through agency halls and offices. The days of interminable servitude are over. New noises are heard from the vanishing breed of volunteers: "How long will it take?" "What are the payoffs?" "Will I be able to make a significant contribution to the life of the organization?" "Perhaps I can help, but it will have to be on my terms." If the vanishing breed is to be spared extinction, an attitude taking the volunteer for granted cannot prevail.

There are a number of steps that we as professionals can undertake to protect and strengthen this vanishing endangered species. Potential volunteers need to know what payoffs may be offered in terms of personal benefits, satisfaction, and services such as child care, meals, and/or transportation. The new breed of the species may want to help define the task to be performed and share input into goal-setting, evaluation processes, and perhaps have at least a gallery seat for the forum that proposes future programs, services, and facilities.

Some potential volunteers might be attracted by a team approach, or meaningful supervision by professionals, helpful evaluation, and letters of recommendation similar

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to those one might expect from "real" work experience (Of course, one must never underestimate the value of a well-meant "thank you" or a "kind word and a smile"). Still other persons may plan to use their volunteer service "credit" as an avenue for entry into a "real" work career setting.

In return for the time invested in recruiting, training, planning with, supervising and evaluating citizen or member volunteers, the professional develops a natural but significant point of contact with another segment of his/her constituency. Accountability is improved because volunteers are close to both the operation of the agency of facility and the public being served. A knowledgeable volunteer can understand and interpret agency and program concerns, problems, and actions in terms meaningful to their peers thus serving as advocates. Often they can motivate other citizens to come to the aid of a fledgling program or foundering project.

We cannot afford to lose this endangered species. In recreation and leisure services there are well-defined roles for both the volunteer and the professional. Let's work to increase public input, and increase the satisfaction and rewards for our most essential resource—the volunteer.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 11 July/August, 1980