Volunteers of America Delaware Valley
It’s a straightforward name for a faith-based, nonprofit enterprise with a multi-faceted mission: To help people prevail against homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern and Central New Jersey and Delaware.
But even though we’ve been on the job for more than a century – the national organization of which we are a part was founded in Philadelphia in 1896 – Volunteers of America Delaware Valley remains unfamiliar to some.
“Are you a group of volunteers?” is one frequent question we get at our Collingswood, NJ headquarters. “Are you part of the Peace Corps?” is another.
Although we certainly have volunteers and are always eager for more, we are not an all-volunteer organization. And with all due respect, we’re not part of the Peace Corps either.
What we are is a major human services provider whose clients are often the most misunderstood and sometimes feared members of our society. I’m talking about men and women who are being released from state prison; men, women and children who are homeless; men and women who are struggling to recover from alcoholism, addiction and mental illness.
Through our 410-member staff, 808 volunteers and 43 programs in three states, we provide more than 11,000 Philadelphia-area residents annually with state-of-the-art services – and we do so at a far lower cost than government can. We operate temporary shelters and permanent housing; job readiness and placement services; and all manner of programs to help people transform themselves from ex-offenders to productive, tax-paying citizens. We teach people to use the tools they must master to rebuild their lives.
It’s a tradition perhaps best articulated by our co-founder, Maud Ballington Booth, who said this to a group of state prisoners in 1896: “I will help you…I will get you work. Above all, I will trust you. It depends on you whether I keep doing so or not.”
At 112 years old, we’re hardly a new kid on the block. But we are very pleased to introduce ourselves to those in the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce who may not know us yet. We look forward to getting to know all of you as well.
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