I received and e-mail today that brought to mind the many opportunities which Riverside County employees have to positively impact the lives of people in their own community.  That is in addition to a rewarding public service job which we get paid for performing. 

This particular e-mail concerned the Community Action Partnership’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. They were calling for County employee volunteers to provide (after training) free tax preparation for low-to-moderate income Riverside County residents who cannot afford professional tax preparation services.  In Riverside County, millions of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) dollars are left uncollected by eligible families.  In less than one hour a volunteer can help a low-to-moderate income family submit a tax return for an average return of $1591.

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Annually or more often, the Riverside County Registrar of Voters asks County employees to serve as workers at the polling places for local, state and national elections.  Actually, the election process could not take place if County employees where not willing to participate and fill in the ranks; there just would not be a large enough labor force to provide the resources required.  Let me tell you from my own experience being a Precinct Officer during the last presidential election, that it was one of the longest and hardest, and most fulfilling day that I have ever worked in my life. 

You come away from this experience thinking that everyone should have to work an election in their community as a condition of continued citizenship.  You will certainly never look at the people working at the polls the same way again.  I used to think, “Well, they are just retired people with nothing else to do, right?”  Yes senior citizens are the backbone of the volunteers at elections.  But, let me see you work from 6:15 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., with not much of a lunch break and lift heavy voting machines to set up and pack up, and I will guarantee that you backbone will be very tired no matter how young you are. 

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In another recent communication I got word from our department coordinator that I would be receiving the United Way forms to pass out for the Human Resources people working in Indio.  The HR Department and the County as a whole has always been a huge supporter of the United Way.  So, employees that don’t necessarily have time available for volunteer events can give back to their individual communities by specifying the location in the County and/or the charity to which their contribution should be directed. 

I use the payroll deduction method for my contribution, and don’t mind telling the people out in front of the supermarket that… “I gave at the office!”  Of course, my contribution goes to Desert charities. 

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Acting as individuals in the department, I note that many employees support fund raiser by buying luncheon tickets or going in together on the purchase of a table.  The luncheon coming up this month is the Alternatives to Domestic Violence Fundraiser. 

For those people with a little more zip in their step than I have, October is also event kick off and call for Team Captains for the April 2009 Race for Humanity, which is championed by a member of our elected County Board of Supervisors.

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Something that I have coordinated for the HR Department in the past was participation in the Mental Health Department’s “Adopt a Family” program.   We were given the description of a family by sex and age, and had a wish list from the children of the kind of presents they would like for Christmas.  In this situation as I recall it was a family of six with small children, and the father was incapacitated and could not work.  One or more members of the family were receiving mental health services.

Our department people individually signed up to supply the gift items and make the wishes of children, who would not have otherwise received a present, come true.  We also came together to assemble groceries for the family from the suggested list the program supplied. 

Afterwards, we received a very warm and you could tell heartfelt thank you letter from the family members. 

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Well, the opportunities continue coming up to give back to our communities, and Riverside County employees keep stepping up to the plate.  I think that says a whole lot about our organizational culture and more specifically the people I have the pleasure to work with.  Please, feel free to join the nearly 2,500 of us in the Desert.