Friday's Top Five: Any Volunteers?

Volunteers are really special people, and they play a vital role in the operation of many organizations.

They give of their time, their energy, and their skills for the reward of knowing that they did something good. No money exchanges hands, but volunteers don’t care about that. They gain so much – personal development, self-respect, new friends and unending gratitude from the organizations that need them.

Shepherds College uses volunteers every day of the school year from the beginning of August to the end of May. Our volunteers are essential as they help us prepare, train and assist young adults with intellectual disabilities in their pursuit of Appropriate Independence.

We currently use volunteers as classroom assistants, Special Olympic coaches or helpers, job coaches, photographers, transition coaches, and instructors for extracurricular activities such as scrapbooking, choir and guitar lessons.

We have need of many more people to help us! Here’s a list of the volunteer opportunities we have available. Your gifts and abilities may be just right for one of them:

1.       Student Newsletter Editor: We need a volunteer with a background in writing and editing who can lead a group of students in the creation and publication of a student newsletter. Ideally, this group would meet one afternoon a week (M, Tu, W, or Th) during the school year from 3:00 PM to 4:00/4:30 PM.

2.       Art Instructor: Several of our students have an interest in art (drawing and painting), and we would love to have a volunteer with a background in art willing to work with these students. Ideally, this person would be available one afternoon a week (M, Tu, W, or Th) during the school year from 3:00 PM to 4:00/4:30 PM. If you can fill this volunteer need, and you’re only available every other week or once a month, we can be flexible.

3.       Classroom Assistants: We need two volunteers each school day to assist a classroom instructor and work with students one-on-one or in small groups. Classes run August through May with vacation breaks.

4.       Mentors:  We need adults who can serve as mentors to the students during the school year. Typical responsibilities would be to meet with the student once a week to talk, encourage them in the Word, and pray with the student. The schedule is flexible.

5.       Activity Assistant: This volunteer would supervise students for various after-school activities from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, Monday through Thursday, and 3:00 to 7:00 PM on Fridays during the school year.

If you’re a local friend of Shepherds College and one of these volunteer positions made you sit a little straighter, read a little quicker and think, “That sounds like something I would be good at!” then please give us a call or stop in for a visit so we can talk.

Your contact person will be Becci Terrill, our Director of Ministry Partnerships. She’ll give you a tour around campus and hand you a packet of paperwork – an application, reference forms and a Standards and Guidelines for Volunteers agreement. You can call her at 262-878-5620 ext. 2304.

Once you’re approved, we’ll put you to work! 

No matter which position you choose, you’ll be making a positive difference in the lives of our students with intellectual disabilities.

And knowing that you are impacting the future of these young people will make a positive difference in yours.

 

Shepherds College - Guiding Your Transition to Appropriate Independence. Please visit us at www.shepherdscollege.edu.