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As the New Year takes hold many are planning to shed a few pounds, eat better and exercise more, hoping to subtract a roll or two from their personal knoll.

Here’s another thought. Instead of just lightening your own load, why not lessen the burden of a person in need, bringing hope, encouragement and promise into what might otherwise be a difficult year?

In the wake of the Newtown, Conn. massacre where so many precious lives were brutally taken, people are examining their own lives more carefully and finding greater meaning and purpose in each day.

One woman made a promise with her family to do 27 acts of kindness over a period of 48 hours for those who died in the Newtown tragedy.

“We decided to honor each life lost by doing something kind and unexpected for another,” she writes. “My 14-year-old daughter shoveled her neighbor’s driveway while they were at a funeral. My 16-year-old jump-started an elderly woman’s car at Wal-Mart. I helped an elderly couple load their groceries in their car . . . simple little things that cost nothing and brighten another’s day.”

Such resolutions could possibly become the springboard for a new, more compassionate society in which people come together to aid one another through storms of violence, poverty, illness and other tragedies that unfold.

“Volunteering is a great way to make an impact in the community in a positive way,” says United Way Volunteer Center Manager Becky Nahvi, CVA. “It is gratifying for both the volunteer as well as the person receiving the services.”

Nahvi says the United Way is able to match volunteers possessing a variety of interests and skill-sets to those in need of assistance – helping children, seniors and others, as well as caring for animals.

The Olmsted County United Way funds 25 to 35 non-profit organizations in the county and partners with many more. With the assistance of numerous volunteers going door-to-door, the United Way recently partnered with the Rochester Public School District in the project “We Want You Back.” The program sought to encourage students who dropped out of school to return and graduate.

“We provided training and materials to help the volunteers feel confident and connect with those families,” Nahvi says. “It has helped the school district to identify multiple issues.”

Concerns that kept some students from returning to school included transportation and child care issues. Nahvi says the United Way is currently looking for volunteers to assist in the fifth annual Project Community Connect Network organized by the Homeless Community Network of Olmsted County. The event will be held at Mayo High School, 1420 11th Avenue SE, Rochester, on January 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“It’s an event for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness,” she says.

Food, haircuts and resources will be provided to those who attend.

Volunteers are needed for food service, to help distribute free phones, as hallway monitors, and for set-up and tear-down. The United Way is also searching for volunteers for the Readers, Tutors, Mentors initiative.

“The whole purpose is to connect caring adults with youth,” Nahvi says. Volunteers would participate “one-on-one, as a mentor.” Partnering again with the Rochester Public School District and other youth service organizations, the program connects young students with adult reading tutors.

“There are a lot of opportunities to impact youth literacy and academic success,” she says. “That’s when you can really make a huge difference in a child’s life.”

More information on volunteering in Olmsted County may be found on the United Way of Olmsted County, Inc.’s website at or by calling Nahvi at 507-529-4831. More than a hundred volunteering opportunities are currently available.

Volunteer opportunities at the Women’s Shelter include making dinner for the women and children, housekeeping and assisting the advocates.

“Our volunteers make a huge difference,” says Volunteer Coordinator Renee Schouweiler. Schouweiler remembers a special volunteer who made the children’s holiday party memorable, donating and preparing the food.

“It was this glorious meal,” Schouweiler says. But this volunteer provided even more: “She sat down and played games and interacted with the women and children.”

More information about volunteering with the Women’s Shelter is available on the United Way website or by calling 507-285-1938.

“We appreciate our volunteers very much,” Schouweiler says.

Volunteers provide information to seniors about Medicare and healthcare choices. For more information, call 1-800-333-2433.

For information about volunteering at the animal shelter or adopting an animal companion, visit Paws and Claws Humane Society at 602 7th Street Northwest, Rochester, call 507-288-7226 or see their website at and click on “how to help.”

Organize a food drive to help those who are hungry. For more information on volunteering to help the food bank, see their website at or contact 507-424-1705.

While this benevolence regimen will not likely whittle your waistline, be forewarned, your heart may grow a little bigger.