National Volunteer Week observed by cancer society

YOUNGSTOWN — The American Cancer Society is observing National Volunteer Week today through May 3 by recognizing those who have willingly donated time and service to charitable organizations.

Among the area volunteers singled out for special recognition is Mike Griffin of Austintown, a five-year volunteer with the cancer society, who initiated the process through which the society received a grant from the AT&T Foundation for the advancement of technology to benefit communities and organizations.

The society applied for the grant and received $24,080 to support the purchase of an interactive voice response system (IVR). The automated system is located at the society’s home office in Dublin, and it provides an efficient process to confirm appointments as well as broadcast messages to the community.

The state-of-the-art equipment provides the society with the ability to make hundreds of outbound calls in an hour and to interpret touch-tone or speech input. The society can now reach more people, more often, with fewer resources, thus more funds can be invested into cancer research and other areas aimed at eliminating cancer.

The American Cancer Society offers volunteers the opportunity to assist with Relay For Life fundraising events, to provide free rides for cancer patients to and from cancer treatments, to work with state and federal legislators to get laws passed and to make cancer a priority, to serve on a variety of task forces and special event committees, and to assist with office duties.

For more information call (800) ACS-2345 or visit www.cancer.org.