Sun City - Where "A City of Volunteers" 

Is More Than A Slogan

Sun City Volunteer Opportunities

The Sun City Visitors Center has been functioning as the contact point for area residents seeking volunteer opportunities. 

People interested in volunteering in Sun City can stop in the Visitors Center, fill out one application, and pick out any number of organizations that pique their interest.  A copy of their application will then be sent to each of their chosen organizations.  This application can also be filled out online by clicking the link below.

We hope this “one stop shopping” for volunteer opportunities will make it easier to match volunteers with organizations and also speed up the process of getting volunteers into their chosen area of service.

Sun City has always been “the City of Volunteers”.  Volunteering is vital to the success of our community.  We need individuals and couples to get involved to keep our community the best choice in retirement living.  Stop by the Visitors Center and take the first step to getting involved --- there’s a satisfying and gratifying volunteer opportunity available for everyone.

Sun City Volunteer Application

Sun City Visitors Center     16824 N 99th Ave (in the Bell Recreation Center)     623-977-5000

Open Monday through Saturday 9 AM to 4 Pm (Summer hours: between Memorial Day and Labor Day - Monday through Saturday 9 AM to 12:30 PM)

The link below is an application specific to the Sun City Visitors Center.

Sun City Visitors Center Application

Additional Volunteer Opportunities

If you have a volunteer opportunity, appropriate for a Sun City resident, please email a brief description and we will add the information to the "Additional Volunteer Opportunities" page.  Please include your contact information.
   

‘City of Volunteers’ 

More Than A Slogan

By MIKE RUSSO

Independent Newspapers

Signs at most entrances to the community proclaim Sun City’s commitment to volunteerism.

But how did Sun City become known as the “City of Volunteers?”

George Hartman, a Sun City resident since 1977, is responsible.

He coined the phrase in 1993 and signs were erected by Maricopa County in June of that year, he recalls.

“We were having trouble in the community regarding the image outside the community. Some people thought we were snobs and didn’t like children,” Mr. Hartman says. “So I thought we needed something to counter that.” Thus, the moniker was born.

Mr. Hartman set about to determine how many dollars the county saved annually by having Sun Citians provide volunteers services, through such organizations as the Sun City Posse and PRIDES.

“I figured there was a saving to the county of $13 to $15 million with work supplied by volunteers,” he says.

The volunteer efforts paid off not only in savings for the county but in an improved image for Sun City, according to Mr. Hartman.

Affixing the label “City of Volunteers” began “to change the thinking about Sun City,” Mr. Hartman notes. “Eventually, the thinking caught on.”

When the slogan was adopted, a concerted effort was made to get the message conveyed. “We started asking everyone to put it on letterhead,” Mr. Hartman remembers.

The public relations effort paid off as Sun City began receiving wide recognition for its high level of volunteer participation.

Sun City’s volunteerism has returned to the forefront through the massive effort involved with planning and staging the wide array of events planned for the community’s 40th anniversary celebration.

The celebration would not have gotten beyond the formative stage were it not for the cadre of volunteers, Mr. Hartman points out.

‘City of Volunteers’ 

More Than A Slogan
(Continued)

One of those cadre of volunteers is Mr. Hartman, who has given much to the community since his move here from Encino, Calif.

During his 23 years of residence in Sun City, Mr. Hartman served two terms on the Sun City Home Owners Association board of directors, as a director for the Recreation Centers of Sun City, Inc., as a director for Blue Cross, Blue Shield of Arizona, as a director for the Red Cross and as a member of the Community Fund board of directors. He is also a past president of the Sun City Foundation and the Lions Club. Despite devoting so much time to volunteering, Mr. Hartman made a run, albeit unsuccessful, for the Arizona Senate in 1982.

He not only remains active as a volunteer but he tries to stir people within the community to action through talks on volunteerism he delivers to various organizations in Sun City.

During his more than two decades of living in Sun City, Mr. Hartman has not noticed a diminished desire among residents to volunteer, but he has seen a reduction in the number of people who do lend their time.

He does not necessarily attribute that to a self-centered or selfish attitude on the part of the residents, but to the lack of organization’s soliciting help.

“You have to ask the new people coming into the community to volunteer,” Mr. Hartman says. “In our day, you just did it.

“Also, a lot of the new residents are still working,” he adds. “I don’t see any reduction in the willingness of people.”

He acknowledges that Sun City’s service clubs have had difficulty attracting new members but he is convinced people would be willing to volunteer their time and energy to the community if asked.

“If we are to continue with volunteers, we must start asking for volunteers,” he emphasizes.

In the 40+ years since Sun City’s inception, thousands of people have donated countless hours of their time toiling for the betterment of the community.