If you want the job done right, then do it yourself.

That popular expression also can be modified to state that if you want the job done at all, then you’ll have to do it yourself. This is often particularly true when it comes to expecting other people to do the work on this needed project or that one. Why wait on others when you can do the job better, quicker and cheaper?

This is where volunteering comes into the picture.

The Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, Suffolk Services of Southeastern Virginia, and the YMCA programs – to name but a few – are made possible through United Way donations and, more importantly, volunteers. Those are the people willing to guide youngsters in becoming upstanding individuals, or assisting older residents with health, transportation or nutrition needs.

Who are these people? They are the strangers across town, your neighbor two houses away, and they could include you.

We were impressed to find out that after the morning pep rally to kick off the Suffolk United Way 2003 campaign, about 200 people in attendance immediately got to work with painting, raking, cleaning, cutting, building, planting in needed places around the city.

That demonstrates a level of commitment beyond just throwing money at United Way and expecting &uot;someone&uot; to do the needed work.

But the funds are still needed to continue the good work of both the participating agencies and their volunteers.

Thanks to the pacesetter companies that get the ball rolling for the United Way, $142, 870 of the $621,174 target amount has been raised already.

We’re looking to Campaign Chairman John G. Sebrell reporting on increasing totals and expanding volunteer services by people like you.