Published: January 02, 2009 10:17 am      

Concord University alums create website to link volunteers to service

ATHENS — Service organizations throughout Four Seasons Country always need giving hearts and hard workers, and two Concord University alums believe help may be just a mouse click away.

Jesse Call and Alex Overmiller, AmeriCorps VISTA participants working through a matching grant by the Bonner Foundation, decided recently to link the tech-savvy nature of college students to the needs of the community in hopes of finding a way to keep the two connected.

They created volunteer.concord.edu, a website “set up to connect the agencies in the area to the students, faculty and staff that are already looking for new and interesting ways to serve their communities,” Call, of Pocahontas, Va., explained recently. “We wanted to hook them up with the agencies that need them.”

Essentially, the site provides a way for community agencies and event organizers to easily submit their service opportunities. Then, anyone wishing to volunteer may register on the site, which will serve as a clearinghouse, matching volunteers with needs.

“Unlike many other websites listing opportunities for volunteers, this one is local to the two Virginias and is directed toward a large body of potential volunteers,” Call said. “In addition, it’s extremely easy to add your listing to the site. Agencies can simply fill out a short form. There are no extra requirements, accounts or commitments necessary.”

Volunteers can search for opportunities based on a variety of descriptions: one-time events, part-time commitments or full-time volunteer positions. And, the opportunities are also listed by county, with a special page for on-campus opportunities.

They can even target a particular type of volunteer project. For example, someone wishing to serve as a mentor to a Mercer County child could type “Mercer children” into a search feature. Within moments, a list of local service agencies dedicated to the well-being of local children will appear.

Although Call said he and Overmiller aimed to make the site as simple as possible to use, turning their idea into a reality wasn’t always simple. It’s been in existence since August, but only in the last month has it become truly functional.

“That was a lot of work. We had to work together. We got some support from our different academic departments here,” he said.

Along with listing the volunteer opportunities and agencies in need of assistance, Call said the CU site also provides other resources, including a calendar of one-time volunteer events and a mapping feature so volunteers can see precisely where the opportunities await.

The site may be geared toward college students, but Call said it’s open and available to anyone interested in giving a bit of time in pursuit of a worthy cause.

“Alumni, supporters, neighbors and friends, as part of our Concord community, are encouraged to utilize the site,” he said.

Plus, any agency interested in submitting a volunteer request is welcome to do so by completing a simple online form available on the website, volunteer.concord.edu.

If agencies prefer to provide the information by phone, Call said CU workers will take the information and place it on the ad themselves. Anyone interested in listing a volunteer opportunity may call (800) 344-6679 ext. 6009.

As VISTA workers, Call and Overmiller are serving a one-year stint, committed to serve full-time for a year at a nonprofit organization or local government agency, working to fight illiteracy, improve health services, create businesses, strengthen community groups, and much more.

Matching funding in the form of an enrichment grant from the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation of Princeton, N.J., is also being used to support their activities to improve opportunities for those who want to volunteer and improve visibility for the agencies or event planners that need the services of volunteers.

So far, Call said site responses have been “decent,” but he said there’s a lot of room for improvement.

“Right now, we’d just like to see more people use it,” he said.

For more information, visit volunteer.concord.edu or call (800) 344-6679.

— Contact Tammie Toler at ttoler@ptonline.net.