Anitra Matthews began participating in volunteer opportunities through Amtrak in 1997. Her volunteer work began with Amtrak’s Safety Fairs, creating committees, and finding ways to get her colleagues involved. Today, Amtrak has an Office of Community Engagement that encourages Amtrak employees to give back to the community through volunteering. Recently, she has supported a STEM packing project here in Arlington with Rosie Riveter’s, created survival study kits for college students, helped move a family with the Ronald McDonald House to a new home, and more! Almost all of Anitra’s volunteer service is done through opportunities provided by Amtrak’s Office of Community Engagement.
Since she first began volunteering, she found the camaraderie with her fellow Amtrak professionals most rewarding. Now, though, she says, “getting her hands dirty and being able to do the action” is incredibly rewarding to her. She points to her service with the family from the Ronald McDonald House as an example of what she means. Anitra and her fellow volunteers lifted and put together furniture for the family. The volunteers were a piece of the action in providing a smooth-moving experience for the family. She loves how the volunteer projects are “always a breath of fresh air because they’re beyond her scope of work at Amtrak”.
When Anitra first engaged with Amtrak’s community engagement team, she was looking for a way to branch out a little bit and do more with her colleagues. Anitra’s first volunteer opportunity was a Narcon training. She came out of it feeling empowered that she could make a difference for her community. It was a feeling she wanted to continue experiencing! So she kept her eye out for more opportunities shared by Amtrak. Whenever she doesn’t have too much work on her plate, she participates in these volunteer opportunities, including spending some Saturdays giving back to her community.
In addition to sharing volunteer opportunities, Amtrak’s community engagement team now provides employees with 8 hours of paid time off for volunteer service and has taken Volunteer Arlington’s Time to Serve pledge. When this benefit was introduced, Anitra was thrilled to be “able to balance her time, even if it’s a 2-hour segment.” She uses that time to get out of the office and serve her community throughout the week. She found this refreshing addition to the benefits already given by Amtrak.
Anitra’s advice to anyone considering volunteering is to “just do it”. She notes that oftentimes the commitment isn’t heavy as many nonprofits are asking for a couple of hours on a one-time basis. She especially recommends people take advantage of community engagement opportunities at work. Anitra says, “You never know who you’re going to meet”. Through volunteering, Anitra met Pauline, a colleague at Amtrak, and their service together led to them becoming good friends. Since they work in different departments, they may not have crossed paths without the community service involvement. Now they take the train together to participate in volunteer opportunities.