<h3>Upcoming volunteer fair to help people find ways to best donate their time, talents</h3>

<b>By Christin Coyne</b><br><a href="mailto:ccoyne@mineralwellsindex.com">ccoyne@mineralwellsindex.com</a>

If you’ve ever wanted to help out in your community, many area organizations will be on hand at the volunteer fair hosted by IntegraCare Hospice at the Mineral Wells Senior Center Oct. 29 to help you find your spot.

Megan Brock, the volunteer coordinator for IntegraCare Hospice and a board member for Palo Pinto County Meals on Wheels, said she proposed the volunteer fair when she realized there was a need to match willing people with opportunities that work for them.

“It’s a daily struggle to recruit volunteers,” Brock said. She covers a several-county area, speaking to groups and advertising the need through various media forms.

“In my daily travels with the hospice, I’ve talked with people who wanted to volunteer but just weren’t suited to be hospice volunteers,” Brock said.

“They’ll be able to find out exactly what a volunteer would do,” Brock said of the fair.

Teenagers and children are welcome to drop by after school, as well, Brock said.

Brock said she’s received good response from organizations interested in recruiting volunteers.

“Volunteers are the very heart and soul of an organization,” Brock said.

IntegraCare is seeking volunteers to do several different types of tasks, including sitting with hospice patients, doing office work or making items to cheer up the lives of patients, Brock said.

The number of volunteers has dropped over the past six months, according to Brock.

Those who volunteer to interact with the patients often spend their time sitting, reading and listening to those who might not have many people to talk to or share their memories with and often gives family members a break.

“It’s a very rewarding opportunity,” Brock said.

Brock said she has a volunteer in Millsap who recently made a career change and decided to go into health care because she so enjoyed her time with patients.

Those who volunteer in the office help answer phones and organize while others skilled in arts and crafts provide crocheted and knitted blankets, lap robes, hats and other items to those in need.

Meals on Wheels is also seeking volunteers.

“We are in constant need of drivers,” Brock said.

Most volunteers commit about an hour one or two days each week to delivering meals to seniors in need, according to Brock.

Even if someone can’t commit every week, they can help by being on the backup list, Brock said.

When flu season hits and many regulars can’t show up, substitute drivers help make sure no one goes hungry.

If organization is more your thing, Meals on Wheels can use volunteers to help plan fundraisers, according to Brock.

“Being a volunteer doesn’t take a lot of time,” Brock said.

“I think this volunteer fair is a marvelous thing,” said Jim Rhodes, director of New Haven Helping Hands.

“[The need] is ongoing but it’s drastically increased [in recent months],” Rhodes said.

Rhodes said they have been seeing three to 10 new families each day the center is open and need additional volunteers, as well as food, to keep up.

They also do homebound delivery and bring bags of food to Graford, Gordon, Mingus and Strawn two weekends each month, in addition to running the food bank three days each week.

Sorting clothes, packing food bags and bringing baskets to the car for the older people are the typical tasks a volunteer usually helps with, Rhodes said.

“We can use youth groups or single volunteers,” Rhodes said. Volunteers range from Brownie troops to a regular helper in a wheelchair.

If people want to work, Rhodes said they can find something for all volunteers to do.

“We can find enough for them to do, even if they can’t lift,” Rhodes said.

Though the food bank is only open five days each week, volunteers are needed between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Other organizations such as the Palo Pinto County Humane Society, Solaris Hospice, the Mineral Wells Animal Shelter, Palo Pinto Challenge Inc., Addiction Recovery Ministries, C.A.R.E. and the United Way are expected to be represented at the fair to answer questions and talked with those interested in volunteering.

Organizations interested in participating can call Megan Brock at (940) 452-4828.