Volunteers of America is a human services organization founded in 1896 by Christian social reformers dedicated to establishing a ministry of service. The faith-based organization is one of the nation's largest and most comprehensive charitable nonprofit human services organizations. Their overall mission is to address society's most pressing needs and to uplift spirits. They do this with hundreds of programs and an army of 80,000 volunteers and 15,000 professional staff.

In 2001, Benevon conducted a special one-day session with the CEOs and development staff of Volunteers of America local offices across the country. Afterwards, the national board offered to underwrite half the cost of a two-day Benevon 101 Workshop in March 2002 in Washington. D.C. for twenty-four local offices. Since then, several more Volunteers of America local offices have gone through the workshop. Two local offices—Volunteers of America North Louisiana in Shreveport, LA, and Volunteers of America's Crystal Care Center in Crystal, MN—have agreed to share their stories here.

Click here to read Volunteers of America North Louisiana's story.

Volunteers of America's Crystal Care Center's story is below.

Volunteers of America has owned and operated Crystal Care Center, a long-term care facility in Crystal, MN, for more than thirty years. The 148-bed center serves seniors, patients needing rehabilitation services, and individuals suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Shelly Wiggin, the Executive Director, said when she arrived five years ago, there was very little fundraising going on at Crystal Care Center. The facility had been holding a fall bazaar, an annual garage sale, and just three years ago, began hosting an Italian dinner/silent auction. All together, these events were bringing in just over $12,000 a year.

But they needed to do more. Government cuts in funding were affecting the entire industry and nursing homes throughout the state were forced to close due to a lack of money. Wiggin said that Crystal Care Center was losing an average of "$10 per patient, per day."

When her team arrived at the Benevon Workshop, they were pretty intimidated. Crystal Care Center doesn't have any development staff, and the team was comprised of staff who have full-time jobs directly related to patient care. None of them were fundraisers and "five of us were introverts," said Wiggin.

But at the workshop, the team had a breakthrough.

"One of our team members stood up and said she knew after this training that we could do it," said Wiggin. "It got us fired up, and I said, 'OK guys, we can do it!'"

The team came out of the workshop feeling a little nervous but excited to begin hosting Point of Entry® Events. Now, they hold two tours a month, on the first or second Thursday at 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., and have practiced it so much, it's like second nature. "We have many stories that we have incorporated along the tour, about different residents—funny things, sad things, things to dispel the myth that nursing homes are for old people," said Wiggin. "Once you've done the tour a few times, it becomes a habit," she said. "We market ourselves better now." When it came time for the Ask Event™, however, Wiggin said they were apprehensive. "We were very nervous. Would we get people there? Would we have the right testimonials? Would the event come off nice?"

They decided to go ahead.

Wiggin said 138 guests came to their breakfast and the event went better than anyone had imagined. They raised more than $30,000. In addition to the multiple-year pledges they received, they've also had donations, such as electric beds for their residents, and have seen an increase in resident admissions from their tours.

"It was amazing," said Wiggin. "The whole event was orchestrated so well. Now we are believers!"

Wiggin said there are a lot of needs at Crystal Care Center, but one of the first things they hope to accomplish is to buy a van for their residents. Recently, they received a notice that the van company they were using for their resident outings would no longer take more than two wheelchairs at a time.

"This success has boosted everyone's self confidence that we can raise money. It's still a challenge, but this process has really made it much easier," she said.