Gavin Reese was honored with the United Way of Salt Lake "Heart & Hands Award" on November 17, at the Utah Philanthropy Day 2009 luncheon hosted by the Utah Nonprofits Association and the Utah Society of Fund Raisers. The Heart & Hands award honors people who make significant contributions to charitable causes throughout our community through his or her volunteer or philanthropic service. Gavin joined other honorees, all of whom were selected as outstanding volunteers from nonprofit service, cultural and educational organizations across the state.
Gavin has volunteered with the United Way for the last eight years, serving on the Day of Caring Committee for six years and as Chair of that committee for the last two years. This group is responsible for organizing a day of service for over 2,000 volunteers in the community who spend a half day to full day working on various service projects throughout Salt Lake.
Matt Wirthlin and Gavin have been on the UW Young Leaders steering committee since 2005 (Matt is currently the vice chair.) They helped start the UW Young Leaders group in Salt Lake, which has grown from 50 members to over 300. This group is aimed at getting young adults in Salt Lake involved in philanthropy, community service and legislative issues, like full-day kindergarten. They are very active in providing community service opportunities such as volunteering with the Angel Tree program, organizing carnivals for the Neighborhood House, organizing food and clothing drives, working at Head Start classrooms, working with Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and serving lunch at local shelters. In addition, Gavin has volunteered with their grant making teams to evaluate local non-profits and review their requests for funding.
Community Involvement Tip from Gavin Reese:
"There are numerous opportunities to get involved with the community. You just have to find a group that does the kind of stuff you like to do and you need to volunteer for the right reasons. It's very easy to spot the individuals that are just volunteering to network and those individuals usually don't stick around very long. Just find something that you like to do."
