In anticipation of National Volunteer Week, April 12-18, Haiti Solar Oven Partners' Associate Director Cathy Hoss recently completed a tally of volunteer hours and the value volunteers provide to the ministry.

Photo: Volunteers at the Raymond (SD) Workshop, Mike and Shelly Rowe, Bismarck McCabe UMC take step one in manufacturing a bread pan from a piece of polished aluminum—bending the sheet in half. 

Here are some of the facts and figures. Get ready to be amazed!

• 3,021 hours = Average total volunteer hours to prepare a shipping container of 1,150 ovens.

• 304 = average number of volunteers involved in preparing a shipping container of ovens.

• 2.6 hours = volunteer hours donated for each oven packed in the shipping container.

• $58.63 = total dollar savings in labor per oven made possible because of volunteers (based on national volunteer hour value of $22.55 as indicated by the online NonProfit Times).

• $68,125 = total dollar savings in labor for an entire shipping container of 1,150 ovens (based on national volunteer hour value of $22.55).

• $58.63 = the added value to each oven distributed. That means when donors give $150 for a complete oven package, they're receiving a $208.63 value.

• 4,900 = volunteer hours donated in 2014 to pack approximately 1.5 shipping containers (1,725 ovens).

• $110,495 = the added dollar value in labor costs of those 4,900 hours (based on national volunteer hour value of $22.55).  

Visit Haiti Solar Oven Partners on Facebook for pictures of Dakotas volunteers preparing ovens for shipment.