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Thousands take part in Spokane Gives Week

Organizations, individuals awarded for participation

Brian Coddington, Communications Director, 509.625.6740

Monday, June 1, 2015 at 2:38 p.m.

Thousands more volunteers participated in the second annual Spokane Gives Week in April. The City’s community-wide initiative designed to encourage year-round volunteerism took place from April 25 to May 3, 2015.

The event generated even greater turnout than 2014. Last year, more than 7,000 Spokane Gives Week volunteers logged 28,400 hours at 106 events in support of the Spokane community. In 2015, 10,218 volunteers gave 49,721 hours of service at 95 events. The week also included 57 organizations.

“I often tell people that Spokane is the most compassionate community in the country,” said Mayor Condon. “And, after the way Spokane stepped up during the nine days of volunteering, I know that is true.”

Spokane Gives Week volunteers participated in a variety of service events during the over nine days. Among other things, the volunteers helped package 107,966 pounds of food and planted 2,320 seedlings in the city. Using the federal government standard equivalent of $22 per volunteer hour, Spokane Gives Week resulted in $1.09 million of economic impact Spokane volunteers gave to their community.

Each year, the City recognizes outstanding volunteerism during Spokane Gives Week in four categories: Corporate, Community, Neighborhood, and Individual. Mayor Condon presented the awards at City Hall on Monday.

  • The Corporate Compassion Award went to Hotstart, where employees volunteered for three days in a row, giving an average of five-and-a-half hours each at the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery.
  • The Community Compassion Award went to the Gonzaga Student Body Association, the first winner of the Spokane Gives University Challenge. Together, Gonzaga University, Washington State University Spokane, Whitworth University, and Eastern Washington University logged 14,594 hours of service.
  • The Neighborhood Compassion Award went to the Five Mile Neighborhood, which undertook beautifying the north and south entrances to Sky Prairie Park.
  • The Individual Compassion Award went to Rhea Turner, an AmeriCorp VISTA for Spokane, for her work helping to organize and coordinate Spokane Gives week.

Spokane Gives Week is part of the Compassionate Spokane Initiative. During Spokane Gives Week, the City partners with United Way to match volunteers with service opportunities and organizations that interest them. The service is available year-round at VolunteerSpokane.org.