Susan M. Pirro Volunteer Angels Program

The Susan M. Pirro Volunteer Angels Program came about when we received a letter from 13-year-old Kathy P., an eighth-grade student at Secaucus Middle School in Secaucus, New Jersey.

In 2018, Kathy read an article about a woman named Susan Pirro who had recently passed away at an early age. Kathy was impressed that Susan, as a single mom who raised three daughters on her own, had a full-time job and still found the time to serve her community in various volunteer capacities.

Kathy went on to list some of Susan’s volunteer accomplishments –- serving on three PTAs, coaching girls’ basketball, serving on the school board, working with the March of Dimes and the Office of Emergency Services, virtually saving the town’s animal shelter and finding homes for hundreds of dogs and cats, and serving two terms as a city councilmember.

Ms. Pirro was a beloved citizen in her town and the quintessential example of how one person can make a world of difference –- she was the poster child, so to speak, for community service.

We can’t say for certain why Susan Pirro became a volunteer initially, but it likely resulted from her wanting to be involved in her daughters’ lives and help out at their school. How this escalated from a PTA member at Clarendon Elementary School to a lifetime of helping others remains a mystery. Perhaps, according to Kathy, she got hooked!

Kathy then suggested that MyGlobalClassroom launch an interactive system in which community members can connect with organizations that need volunteers. People can apply online to work with a particular organization or event, select their days and hours, and post information on a bulletin board about their experience. Kathy called it “Volunteer Angels.”

We’ve taken Kathy’s letter to heart and hired a group of software engineers at Palo Alto Networks to design an online portal for volunteers that can be used in any community. Beginning in the Spring of 2024, The Susan M. Pirro Volunteer Angels Program will launch in Secaucus, New Jersey, and will spread into other cities and towns across the U.S. shortly thereafter. To save time (and money) we’ve partnered with the Volunteer Center based in Pleasanton, California, whose database of willing volunteers and non-profit organizations is world-renowned.

Through her decades-long example, Susan Pirro demonstrated to her children and the entire Secaucus community that one citizen, regardless of circumstance, can gain value by thinking of others as much as themselves. Sue believed that volunteers are the only human beings who reflect this nation’s compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain love for each other. She certainly proved Martin Luther King’s admonition that, “Volunteers don’t get paid because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless.”