Senior volunteers
Volunteers
45 percent of people aged 60 to 65
volunteer an average of 4.4 hours a
week, says Independent Sector
8 • PhilanthK^yJoiinial of North Carolina
Upsiifli
June 1994
Bibliophiles check out the offerings at the Wake County Library's
book sale.
File photo
Critical Friends
Wake libraries shelve volunteers
Wake County's Friends of the
Library criticized the iibrary
director for the iibrary’s hold
ings. As a result, the volunteer
group has been asked not to
handle the library system’s
annual book sale.
By David E. Brown
Raleigh
the concerned volunteers
I it’s simple: Friends don’t let
I friends drive away from the
library unfulfilled.
The county administrators who
run the libraries simply don’t agree
there’d be any reason tor that to hap
pen. But what happens when the
people in charge of a taxpayer-fund
ed public service and the people who
give their time to raise money and
funnel the public’s support and criti
cism can’t see eye to eye?
In Wake Connty, the volunteer
group that supports the public
library system found itself in hot
water after it criticized the way the
library director was handling the
system’s book collection. How the
dispute has played out offers a les
son for all organizations that depend
on volunteers, who inevitably are
beholden to some higher entity,
whether pnblic or private.
Local governments like to stretch
dollars to the limit. Nearly eveiy ser
vice they staff, they supplement in
some way with small-scale philan
thropists - people who find the time
to lend a free hand. Wake County
Manager Richard Stevens rattles off
the names of half a dozen without
taking a breath: PTA, extension
homemakers, parks advisoiy boards.
Keep America Beautiful, folks who
help troubled children.
And the Friends of the Library.
In the increasingly cosmopoUtan,
education-minded state capital,
Stevens, Library Director Tom Moore
and some county commissioners are
at odds with the leadership of the
rou^y 200 Friends over the volun
teers’ repeated criticism of the
Uhrary system’s collection.
The primary complaint, which the
Friends say they are passing along
from thousands of library users, is
that the book collection buildup that
started under Moore in the early
1980s has left the 18 library branches
long on pulpy popular novels and
short on non-fiction beef.
The Friends also are npset that
the system let its local history collec
tion decline.
County officials have made some
positive responses. They attempted
to obtain specifics fi’om every signer
of a petition critical of the system.
They have started an effort to
Look for FRIENDS, page 9
Booster shots
Volunteers help fund hi^ school athletics
They operate on a much smaller
scale than then university coun
terparts, but high school boost
er clubs perform a task that’s
just as important - raising dol
lars to support their school
teams.
By 'Tim Stevens
Newton
* f ever underestimate what
/W can be done by a small
/ V group of people with love
in their hearts, ears to the telephone
and feet in action.
Wayne and Peggy Smith have
helped pump more than a quarter of
a million dollars into the athletic pro
gram at Newton-Conover High
School during the past 20
years or so.
The Newton-Conover
Athletic Boosters Club
raised more than $10,000 in
less than a week to buy a car
for football coach Don
Patrick. By comparison, it
took the school two years to
raise $86,000 for a new press
box for the football field and
about five years to raise
$225,000 for a new field
house. Few athletic booster
clubs in North Carolina can
handle projects that big, but
'5
FIELDING
DREAMS
SPECIAL REPOKT
boosters clubs gradually have
become a necessity for many high
schools.
Twenty years ago, most school
athletic programs could survive on
the revenues generated by gate
receipts at football and basketball
games. But in those days, schools
usually offered five or six sports for
boys and one or two for girls.
The North Carolina High School
Athletic Association now has state
championships in 21 sports, and it is
not unusual for a school to field more
than 30 varsity and junior varsity
teams.
High school athletics don’t
receive any state funds. Most local
systems provide support funds for
coaching supplements, insnrance,
transportation and the like.
“I’d guess that booster
clubs at many schools provide
a minimum of 50 percent of
the operating expenses,” says
Gary Powers, athietics direc
tor at Millbrook High in
Raleigh. “At some schools,
the boosters probably give
closer to 70 percent.”
High school athletic boost
er clubs, unlike college athlet
ic clubs, generally have
tremendous turnover.
Parents usually are involved
as long as their children are
participating. There are few
Selling refreshments at soccer games is one way members of the Millbrook High School Booster Club raise
money for athletics. Here club members Sue and Jimmy Helfert serve middle school students
people like the Smiths, who have
been members of the Newton-
Conover group for more than 20
years.
The Smiths have missed fewer
than half-a-dozen Newton-Conover
football games since they graduated
in 1947. Wayne was a charter mem
ber of the school’s athletic boosters
and Peggy has been the treasurer for
Stuart Small (left) and Betsy Draper.
File photo
more than 15 years.
“We just enjoy it,” says Peggy
Smith. “This is what we do. Some
people get involved in other kinds of
clubs, but this is what we do.”
The Smiths are totally involved.
Wayne brings the cheerleaders into
the stadium in his pickup at every
home game, and Peggy staffs the
souvenir booth that is open before
and after — hut not dnring — home
foothalt games.
They also unofficially adopt a
player or two each year to become
sort of honorary grandchildren.
The work the Smiths do helps the
Newton-Conover program, bnt the
focus of their group and most high
Look for BOOSTER, page 9
New resource
on volunteer issues
The Nonprofit Risk
Management Center in
Washington, DC has pro
duced a new booklet on
legal issues that arise in vol
unteer programs, "Managing
Volunteers Within the Law."
For information, call
(202)785-3891.
Student organizes pro
gram to feed homeless
Glenn Hutchinson, o senior
at UNC-Charlotte, started
picking up leftovers from the
university cafeteria to take to
area homeless shelters a few
years ago. Now Hutchinson
and several other students
collect food three times a
week, and Hutchinson is
working to turn the program
inta a nonprofit organization
before he graduates.
Volunteers needed
at arts program
Heritage Arts in Raleigh is
seeking volunteers to help with
"Reunion in the Grove," a fes
tival honoring the ancestors of
people of African ancestry.
The festival is Saturday, June
4, 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. at
Moore Square Park. Call
Maxine Alexander at (919)
831-0681.
Heritage Arts
Volunteers needed
for statewide confer
ence
The Philanthropy Journal of
North Carolina is looking for
a few volunteers to help with
registration and to facilitate
its statewide conference on
stewardship this fall. Call
(919) 829-8991.
Volunteers make
fundraising effort
Hundreds of volunteers con
tacted each family with a
child at Ravenscroft School
in Raleigh as part of the
school's $5.15 million
fundraising campaign. More
than 770 parents, faculty,
alumni, grandparents, foun
dations and corporations
contributed to the campaign.