National Runaway Safeline
Volunteer Appreciation Event 2022
On June 28th, the National Runaway Safeline (NRS) welcomed dozens of guests to our annual Volunteer Appreciation event at our Chicago office. Guests joined NRS staff both in person and virtually via Zoom to celebrate the tremendous accomplishments and dedication of volunteers across the organization.
The event was particularly meaningful this year, as it marked the first time in over two years that we gathered our volunteer community together in person. In addition, with volunteers working on the Crisis Services team responding to contacts remotely, many in our community have never been to our office or met their NRS colleagues face-to-face.
Volunteers are at the heart of what we do at NRS. They are essential to NRS fulfilling its mission of keeping runaway, homeless and at-risk youth safe and off the streets.
Volunteers vary in age and location; they’re as young as 16 years old (volunteers must be at least 16), and live in 13 states across the country. Two even reside internationally in England and Germany! Volunteers support NRS in a range of capacities – along with working in Crisis Services, volunteers offer their time as members of our Board of Directors, on our Associate Board, and on various committees. In 2021, volunteers across the organization donated an amazing 10,619 hours to support NRS’ mission; that’s over 442 days’ worth of hours in one year alone!
Our Volunteer Appreciation event culminated with an Awards Ceremony where we honored Volunteers of the Month from the past year. In addition, we proudly honored Peggy Dassatti as the National Runaway Safeline 2021-2022 Volunteer of the Year!
Peggy began volunteering with NRS in October 2020. In less than two years, Peggy has dedicated 346 hours of service to youth in crisis, making 464 individual crisis connections in that time. Peggy consistently offers to takes on extra shifts, is always punctual and dedicates additional hours to helping to train new volunteers as a Role Play Facilitator.
When accepting her award, Peggy shared some kind words with event attendees:
I am humbled to have been named Volunteer of the Year for the National Runway Safeline! Truly such an honor for working with an organization that is dedicated to helping our youth. I am proud to be a part of NRS as it offers me the opportunity to work with youths that will be hopefully be a big part of the future of our country. Whether to simply have someone to talk to or get assistance dealing with many of the things they are running up against in the world today I am thankful to have NRS behind me as the chats come through. It's obvious why NRS has been recently recognized as an organization so important and viable to the youth today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Congratulations and thank you!
The NRS staff thanks and congratulates all of our volunteers for their dedication and generosity of time and spirit!
