MORGANTOWN — Erica Mayle, marketing coordinator for Christian Help, said as WVU students leave for the summer, the number of available volunteers decreases.
Right now the nonprofit organization is searching for people to give their time to help with daily operations.
“Really, we can always use volunteers, as many as we can get,” she said.
Generally, during the school year the nonprofit can have anywhere from two to 15 volunteers working each day. Mayle said the charity doesn’t necessarily need that many daily, but sometimes in the summertime help can be hard to come by. In 2017 alone, 19,489 people visited the Free Store on Walnut Street and 2,552 people received food from its food pantry.
“It’s definitely good to have three or four people daily because we are restocking the store, filling food orders and filling special needs as well, so that is a job several people could be doing,” she said.
Another great need is for someone to help with the Career Closet Program. It’s open on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and clients can receive free clothing so they have something to wear to work.
Also, Christian Help needs someone to volunteer Saturdays at the Morgantown Farmer’s Market to bring donations back to Christian Help after the market closes for the day. Mayle said it can be challenging to find someone willing to give weekend time, but it’s typically about two hours in the morning.
The bulk of what volunteers do is help in the Free Store. Mayle said the charity receives many donations and needs people to sort through and prepare the clothing for clients.
“Most volunteers can expect that that’s what they’ll be doing. They’ll be sorting, hanging and restocking the store,” she said.
Volunteers may also help with special needs, such as clients coming in to receive backpacks and blankets. Christian Help also takes donations for things like back-to-school season and Christmas year round.
Mayle said there is an array of people who volunteer. Volunteers can be as young as 5 (but should be accompanied by an adult) but they also have many senior volunteers and a mixture of adults who just want to give back to the community.
She said people often have misconceptions about Christian Help, maybe basing it on the name or the services provided, but they should take the opportunity to experience it for themselves. She said it is a welcoming environment and they keep it open and active.
“We want to make sure, even though you’re volunteering and you’re doing things for other people, you’re having a good time,” she said.
She said it’s good for others to understand a lot of people don’t choose to be less fortunate. No one wants to go hungry, or not have a home, and seeing that firsthand can dismiss the stereotypes many conceive of those less fortunate.
“It’s good to see people in the world help that want to help and they do help because they can, not because they have to,” she said.
However much time someone wants to volunteer, Christian Help will gladly take it.
“You don’t have to have any certain amount of time. If you have 30 minutes and you want to stop by or if you have three hours and you want to stop by, we are open to anything like that,” she said.
“We would like for people to come and see what it’s all about,” she said.
