Volunteers Help Set Things Right : Community Spirit Making Headway, Despite O.C.’s Lax Image

It’s easy to find volunteers in Orange County if you know where to look: in churches and libraries, on the beach and on the hiking trails. Their work too often is unknown to others, but of course few volunteers do what they do for the recognition. Helping others helps themselves.

In an effort to recognize those who give their time and effort to the community and to let potential volunteers know what opportunities exist, the country recently marked National Volunteer Week.

In Orange County, on the Saturday at the end of that week, thousands of people helped out on more than 90 projects. It was a fine example of community spirit.

A dozen dentists and oral hygienists gave checkups, fillings and other treatment to more than 100 low-income children. Across the county, men, women and children planted trees and flowers, painted classrooms, removed graffiti and spruced up parks.

Volunteers picked up hundreds of pounds of trash from the beaches that are such a vital part of Orange County. In Westminster, a group accompanied foster children for an outing at a bowling alley. In Seal Beach, volunteers organized a picnic for battered women and their children.

The Volunteer Center of Orange County organized what was formally known as Volunteer Connection Day. A spokeswoman for the nonprofit group said people often see the need for their assistance but are not always sure how to get involved. Helping connect volunteers to tasks that need to be done is an important job, one that helps everyone involved.

There have been studies showing that Orange County residents volunteer less often than their counterparts across the country. But there have been indications that may be changing, which would be a welcome development.

Certainly the Christmas season always brings an outpouring of community spirit, from volunteer painters sprucing up homes owned by the elderly to those with strong backs delivering food to the poor.

The desire to “give something back,” so often mentioned by people who volunteer, needs encouragement year-round. Helping one another makes a community stronger and better.