Every year, 18,000 city volunteers give their time to help make Virginia Beach a better place – running emergency medical calls, coaching sports teams, teaching children to read, cleaning roads and beaches, and much more. The city will honor some of these volunteers at a ceremony Tuesday, May 17, at 2 p.m. at the Volunteer Recognition Garden behind City Hall.
Among the honorees will be 20 volunteers who have served the city for 20 years or more. Leading the pack is Melvin Losick, a volunteer for the Emergency Medical Service for the past 40 years. Losick is a training chief who helps students prepare for state certification and field operations. He also has been a field operations volunteer himself all these years.
Last year, volunteers donated 1.38 million hours of work to the city. To replace that labor would take 661full-time employees, costing taxpayers nearly $20 million.
At Tuesday’s ceremony, youth volunteer of the year and volunteer resource manager of the year will be named and honored. Mayor William D. Sessoms, Jr. and City Manager James K. Spore will personally thank the volunteers.
To find out how you can volunteer for Virginia Beach, visit www.VBgov.com/volunteer. For more information, contact Mary Russo, director of the Office of Volunteer Resources, at (757) 385-4722 or mrusso@vbgov.com.