DIANA O'NEILL
Executive Director, Long Island Volunteer Center

By Maureen Traxler

Diana O'Neill's eyes sparkle when she talks about fitting girls for their prom dresses and seeing their happy faces as they find accessories and shoes, too. It's like "being a fairy godmother," she says.

O'Neill is speaking, of course, about the Long Island Volunteer Center's Prom Boutique, now in its 13th year, which provides prom dresses for girls who would otherwise not be able to afford them. Gowns, assorted handbags, lipsticks, jewelry Ð they're all donations collected by the Volunteer Center throughout the year. A dozen seamstresses donate their time at the April Prom Boutique events to make sure the girls get the right fit, and a DJ keeps the atmosphere bubbly. Prom Boutique was recently "adopted" by Weight Watchers, and as its clients slim down, they donate their fancy dresses Ð 250 this year alone. O'Neill calls the events "memory markers for the girls," a time to celebrate their accomplishments and hard work in school.

"Prom Boutique captures the imagination" of those who donate items or volunteer, O'Neill continues, and that, along with the Volunteer Center's connections with organizations and agencies that service at risk youth and children with special needs, makes the event a success. In its first year, Prom Boutique outfitted 35 girls; last year, the Volunteer Center sponsored three events and outfitted 880 girls for their big day.

For Prom Boutique, the Center partners with fashion and marketing students from Nassau Community College and the Social Work Club at C.W. Post. O'Neill says it's a great opportunity "to teach another generation how to plan a program around a community need" and the students gather real world experience soliciting donations, and promoting and planning a special event.

The Long Island Volunteer Center was founded by Joan Imhof, a longtime advocate for volunteer efforts on Long Island. When Imhof's Nassau County Office of Volunteers was defunded in the early 1990s, she continued to receive calls for volunteers at home. In response, she contacted the Points of Light Foundation, and through grants from the Mott and Kellogg Foundations, she opened the doors of the Volunteer Center. And within a year, she tapped the services of a relative newcomer to Long Island who brought with her a history of volunteerismÑDiana O'Neill.

Growing up in Virginia, O'Neill's mom modeled examples of personal giving. Although her mom worked on "Capitol Hill" by day, she had time to help Vietnamese refugees acclimate to life in the states, and at night, run a children's shelter.

O'Neill, too, had a connection to Points of Light. In 1988, she was working for the U.S. Treasury department in Austin, Texas, when she heard the Republican nominee for president, George H.W. Bush, give a speech in which he called upon Americans to live the spirit of volunteerism. He spoke of the "thousand points of light,"all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the nation, doing good. She was captivated by his words and, drawing on her degree in accounting from Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and receiving some administrative leave time monthly, she began teaching women at the San Antonio Women's Shelter how to set up a bank account and formulate a personal or household budget. She was "exhilarated" that she had been given an opportunity to "touch another human life."

When O'Neill and her husband Peter relocated to Garden City in 1991, she began volunteering with the local Junior League, where she says she learned about nonprofit organizations, how they address issues through community resources, collaborate and build networks, develop a strategic plan, budget and set goals. She joined the Volunteer Center as Vice President of Projects, and with a number of stalwart volunteers, built up the organization.

One of the Center's major tasks is to maintain a list of nonprofit organizations and agencies that are seeking volunteers, and "make the bridge," says O'Neill, between them and the individuals and groups seeking opportunities. The list is by category from animal assistance to social services. Contact names and numbers, as well as appropriate web addresses, are provided, and organizations can join the list by calling the Center at (516) 564-5482.

The Center supports corporate community service through LIVE, the Long Island Volunteer Enterprise, which matches corporate volunteer teams with nonprofits that are in need of extra hands to complete a project. It also supports the Postal Letter Carriers Food Drive and other holiday collections. O'Neill says the Center will be "going virtual" this year with an online presence. They have targeted National Volunteer Week (April 23-29) for their official connection to www.1-800-volunteer.org, a national system specializing in recruiting and engaging volunteers to meet the complex needs of nonprofits. Through the website, potential volunteers can check out opportunities at their convenience, and agencies will have the capability to upload their information and needs. The Center will still be on hand to help people navigate the volunteer process.

"Volunteers are a working asset of any not-for-profit organization," remarks O'Neill who claims, "Volunteerism isn't nice; it's needed." She says that in recent years, and especially post-9/11, people talk more about volunteering, and seem to have a greater sense of purpose and desire to be part of something. She hears people ask: "How can I, who have so much, give to people and programs that can benefit?" and she adds, "The motivation is so pure, so real."

In 2001, O'Neill was a member of the regional steering committee to support and celebrate the United Nations International Year of Volunteers, the result of a request made by Japan, which was overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity following the earthquake in that country. When the year was over, thoughts turned to building on the momentum and the idea for a Long Island Volunteer Hall of Fame took root. The effort recognizes the humanitarian spirit of volunteer founders of nonprofit organizations whose vision, dedication and drive address community needs and improve quality of life. Since its inception in 2003, 54 individuals, chosen from 12 categories of service spanning the gamut from culture to hunger and homelessness, have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

O'Neill acknowledges the offer by New York State Parks Commissioner Bernadette Castro to give the Hall of Fame permanent reflection at Bethpage State Park through the placement of benches with inscribed plaques in honor of inductees at the Carlyle on the Green clubhouse and the grounds of the Blue, Green and Yellow golf course tees. The benches will generate a visual display of the Volunteer Center's portable trade-show size presentation board that documents each honoree, his/her biography, contributions and photograph.

The Long Island Volunteer Center is also a member agency of NVOAD, National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. O'Neill shares the co-chairmanship of volunteer planning with United Way. The team includes, among others, the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and Nassau and Suffolk County Offices of Emergency Management. The goal is to formulate a plan to manage spontaneous volunteers and channel people where the need is greatest during a disaster or emergency.

"It's an awesome responsibility," notes O'Neill, "to be part of creating protocol and methodology. But it's very rewarding."

O'Neill says that she realized the true meaning of giving and volunteering in one incident that took place at the Mary Brennan Soup Kitchen in Hempstead. For three-and-a-half years, she volunteered there two days a week. She'd set up the clothing outreach that was part of the lunch-hour service. Every few months, they'd hold a free Flee Market, and the INN's guests would receive a large bag in which they could put any items they wanted. She was working the housewares table when a day laborer walked in. "Can I help you," she said, and he responded that he needed one fork. She spread out a wide selection, which he perused, and then he selected a fork, put it in his front pocket and walked out.

"In that one instance of human contact I learned that the gift we give as individuals is unconditional," says O'Neill. "The opportunity to connect with another human being is so profound and we're invited to it. If we're not open to the opportunity, we could miss it." She adds: "Volunteerism isn't what you give or what you get. It's what you become."

O'Neill and her husband Peter, a dermatologist in private practice in Garden City, have a son Colin, who is studying environmental science at Stony Brook University. In addition to her many volunteer endeavors, including Literacy Nassau, she likes to read and cherishes "making a home," because home is the first place where the heart is.