Tis the season… to give back to your community

We all know that the economy is still in the dumps and jobs are hard to come by, but in a college town like Davis, it can be hard to really know how the local community is effected. You might be surprised to know that Sacramento’s unemployment rate hovers around 12%, which is 3% higher than the national average, or that up to 20,000 people in Yolo County rely on the Food Bank’s services each month to avoid hunger.  While it might be hard to see on a daily basis, this data makes it clear that our local community could use a helping hand.

If you’re like me, you always think about volunteering for the holidays, and never quite get around to it; or you try your darndest to make a volunteering plan, but get stuck and confused by the options… and never quite get around to it.  Sense a theme?  Aside from one fantastic year in which I served lunch to a wonderful group of homeless folks back east and a smattering of experiences in high school (which feels a lifetime ago), I am embarrassed to admit that I have not been a good holiday volunteer.

To aid myself and anyone else who’d love to get out into the community and give back this year, we’re going to profile several local nonprofits who could use a helping hand from their fellow Davisites.

Up first in this series on local volunteering is the Interfaith Rotating Winter Shelter (IRWS).  A rather unique opportunity to Davis, the IRWS offers a warm and safe place for local homeless people to stay overnight during the cold winter season.  Through an email interview with Andrea Gero, IRWS co-chair, I was able to learn about the exciting and much needed services volunteers can provide.

Davis Community Church -- the first site of the IRWS. Photo by Marilyn M on Flickr

Gero tells us that each night from November 27^th to March 10^th, a different local religious organization offers their space to the shelter.  Organizers of the IRWS have two significant needs for volunteers – overnight volunteers and intake specialists.

Overnight volunteers arrive at the shelter around 8:30 pm and stay overnight with the guests. In the morning, volunteers help direct chores and cleanup to ensure that the host site is left clean and is locked up securely, usually leaving around 6:30am. Don’t worry, Gero tells me, volunteers are not required to stay up the whole night, instead working in shifts with other overnight volunteers.  She also emphasized that this is, by far, their greatest need for volunteers.

When I asked Gero to tempt our readers by explaining the benefits to the volunteers, she quickly responded to talk about two big pluses of this opportunity: sincere appreciation by the guests and the chance to get to know so many of the homeless in our area on a personal basis.

Gero explained that, “Our guest are very appreciative of the services we offer, [and] many love to share their stories or talk about anything from current politics [to] 70′s era rock. The shelter provides a safe environment for both our homeless guests and volunteers to interact comfortably, which simply doesn’t happen to the same degree outside.”

Donation suggestion -- image from Lamazone on Flickr

Not able to stay overnight?  Have no fear; there are two other opportunities to help out IRWS and the homeless of Davis.  First, consider becoming an intake volunteer.  These volunteers register and organize guests each night before the shelter opens. This is an important and potentially long-term volunteering opportunity.

And here’s an easy and fun way to help — got any DVDs in good shape that you don’t watch anymore?  Donate them!  Making a donation of socks, rain gear, and action movies (the guests’ favorite) is a simple way to help out the program this year.

Anyone interested in volunteering or donating should visit their website at www.interfaith-shelter.org to sign up.  Their first training sessions begin this weekend, so potential volunteers are encouraged to sign up soon!