Thanks a latte, volunteers!

On Monday we're going to be celebrating and thanking our amazing volunteers at our annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner. But today, we wanted to share with you how grateful we are for those who give their time to keep us chugging along, onward and upward toward our mission to care for those living with HIV and fight to prevent the spread of it in our community.

Over the past year, more than 300 individuals have given their time and talents to helping us fulfill that mission. At Grande Masquerade alone, more than 80 people helped us raise $178,488. Additionally, 70 volunteers for Dining Out for Life made contact with 10,000 diners and raised $23,000 in individual contributions. On top of that, volunteers helped us get out in the community at fairs and festivals and represented us to their friends, families, and communities.

What else did they do? Our incredible volunteers helped us haul thousands of pounds of food for our food pantry so that we could continue to offer nutritional support for our clients, who need it more than most. Our volunteers also helped us serve 687 clients in our food pantry - that's 687 people who got an extra hand when they needed it. They also helped us keep our office running by volunteering in our testing center and so, so much more.

In terms of hours served, our volunteers have blown us out of the water. If we just counted the 11 volunteers with the most service hours, their total hours from July 2012 to July 2013 add up to 2,670 hours. That's 111 full, 24-hour days of service! Two of our volunteers contributed 528 and 596 hours to us, respectively. That's kind of like working full time for three and a half to four months. Wow.

We can't really thank our volunteers enough for what they do. It's impossible to put a value or a number on the generosity of the people we count among our precious volunteers. But what we can do is try to show our appreciation now and throughout the year. So thank you, volunteers, for everything you do! We are beyond grateful for your hard work and commitment!