Resolve To Be Involved In 2016

As a young boy growing up in Chicago, Jim Sliwicki has fond memories of accompanying his mom as she went door to door collecting donations for the March of Dimes, Veterans of Foreign Wars and other charitable organizations.

As he got older, it struck him that even though his family sometimes struggled to make ends meet, his mom still made it a priority to help others in need. It was that realization that planted the seed to take on more volunteer opportunities.

“It just feels right” says Jim, Budget Operations Director at Arizona State University and active volunteer for Valley of the Sun United Way for more than 20 years—ever since he began managing the annual United Way campaign for his ASU office.

“We have one-hundred percent participation every year,” he says. “I am very proud of that.”

Today he and his son Austin, a freshman at ASU, pitch in to help assemble WeekEnd Hunger Backpacks and School Readiness Kits to serve Valley children. Jim says he’s heartened by projects open to the entire family.

“I like seeing young people exposed to volunteer work and getting the importance of it,” says Jim, who, like his mother before him, introduced his son to helping others as a young boy. “The world isn’t always fair, and it’s nice to see kids can understand that at an early age.”

Both Jim, a member of United Way’s Financial Stability Advisory Council, and Austin are studying to become part of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program to provide free tax preparation for hardworking families with low to moderate income, getting them the tax credits they deserve.

Jim also gives his time to Project Connect assisting people experiencing homelessness access life-saving resources like food, clothing, counseling and job placement. Despite his fondness for volunteer projects that involve children, he says his first experiences at Project Connect events had the strongest impact.

“These are good people who just haven’t caught a break,” he says. “It moves you to see how thankful they are when you treat them like a human being. They leave feeling a little better about themselves.”

“Making a difference is easy,” he says. “It’s not like scaling a mountain, not when each person does their part.

To anyone considering jumping on the volunteer band wagon, Jim has this to say: “Just give it a try. It’s easy to get hooked.”

Volunteer to help veterans at Arizona StandDown on Jan. 28 & 29.

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