Driving Veterans: Why Volunteer?
VA Illiana's 2023 Volunteer Driver Recruitment Week is the perfect opportunity to explore the many reasons to apply for a position driving Veterans.
Research suggests the benefits of volunteering are many, including the potential to improve one’s physical and mental health. Additionally, volunteering as a driver offers rewards only found when providing transportation to those who have served America.
Aaron Cain, a voluntary service specialist at VA Illiana, collaborates with other VA Illiana team members to train, onboard, and manage volunteer drivers. When asked about the most rewarding parts of volunteering, he outlined three key points, all united by a common theme of service to others:
- Impact Veterans’ Lives
When a person volunteers time driving Veterans, they can be sure that they are making a difference. Through their role, VA volunteer drivers spend extended periods with Veterans. During this time, a driver may engage Veterans in conversation, form social bonds, and become a trusted member of a Veteran's VA team. A volunteer driver's skill in responding to the unique needs of each Veteran can make an otherwise unremarkable drive an opportunity for compassion and care.
- Serve your community
America's Veterans are everywhere—in small towns, major cities, and in every size community in between. Whether you know it or not, Veterans are in your neighborhood, at your school, and at local businesses. When you drive Veterans, you're strengthening the social fabric of your community by helping keep the promise our nation made.
Volunteer drivers complement the efforts of the Veterans Transportation Network drivers. The generosity of volunteers helps ensure that essential services remain accessible and convenient, making volunteer drivers an important link in the chain between Veterans and the care they have sacrificed to earn.
- A sense of unity and purpose
The Veterans Health Administration is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, providing care at 171 VA Medical Centers and 1,113 outpatient locations of care. When a person chooses to drive Veterans, they unite themselves with VA’s mission: “To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise to care for those who have served in our nation’s military and for their families, caregivers, and survivors.” In other words, volunteer drivers truly become part of something greater than themselves.
To begin the process of becoming a volunteer, reach out to Andrea Hooker at (309) 589-6800, ext. 47279, email us at vaillianainfo@va.gov, or simply message us via Facebook Messenger.