Contents
Why Volunteer?
"By helping others, we discover ourselves."
Rich Taylor '91 and Leilani Nelson '91
Volunteering offers you the opportunity to become involved in the community and to make an impact on the lives of those in need. As a volunteer you'll stretch the boundaries of your education and in the process discover more about yourself and the community, society, and environment in which you live. And as an added bonus you'll gain valuable work experience as well.
The Volunteer Coordinator's Office exists to help you find the right volunteer program and to help you get the most out of the experience.
You'll have the opportunity to plug into an existing program at an agency in which you have a special interest. You can participate in special, one-time community service projects. You can even coordinate one of the existing programs as a program director or create and run your own program.
As a volunteer you will:
To Help You Decide
Take a few moments to read through this booklet. First, review the general information about what is expected of you no matter where you volunteer. Then, check the details we've provided on volunteer opportunities available in the Lewiston-Auburn area. When you've settled on a program that interests you, call or stop by the Volunteer Coordinator's Office and we'll get you started.
What's Involved
Think It Through
Before volunteering you must carefully examine your:
Take a good look at what you do in your spare time and what you enjoy doing most. Estimate the amount of time that you could commit to being a volunteer. And take care to make an honest, realistic assessment.
Orientations And Expectations
To ensure that you have a successful volunteer experience, set some goals for yourself. It is important that you attend any orientations or training held for the program or agency you are interested in. These orientations help you to learn about the expectations of the agency and develop some expectations of your own. It is important to understand what the program entails, what is expected of you, and all the details of the experience itself. It is also beneficial for you to share what it is that you want and expect and how you can contribute.
Volunteering Is Voluntary Before You Sign Up -
Volunteering Is a Commitment After You Do!
Volunteer work is a real work commitment. You're serving people with real needs and working with professionals, so please don't miss your volunteer commitment!
If you aren't consistent and dependable, here's what is likely to happen:
Length Of Involvement
Most volunteer positions are for at least one semester. At the end of the semester, please let the Volunteer Coordinator's Office or program director know if you will not be working with the program any longer. Contact the volunteer coordinator if you would like to choose a new program.
How You Can Help
Types Of Involvement
Ongoing Bates Programs: Volunteering on a weekly basis with a Bates program such as Adopt-a-Grandparent, which is coordinated by a program coordinator. Each volunteer is responsible for setting up his or her own schedule and being conscientious about adhering to it.
Referral to a Community Agency: Volunteer placement is individually arranged and volunteers can set their own schedules according to agency need.
One-time Projects: A volunteer helps out at a special event, such as Into the Streets or the Hunger Clean-Up, for a few hours on a specified day, usually Saturday. These events are publicized through Bates Daily, posters, and the Volunteer Network bulletin board in the mail room in Chase Hall.
Leadership roles: Become a program director of an existing program, or create and run your own. Involves three hours or less a week.
Programs and Agencies
Many of the community agencies in which you can volunteer are listed below, along with a description of how you can help. Remember, too, that new opportunities often come up during the year. Information about them or about one-time volunteer events can be found in a number of different places.
AARP Nursing Home Community Council
Works to improve the quality of life for residents of nursing homes. An education program and support group are tailored to meet the needs of volunteers. Volunteer Position: Be a weekly visitor to a nursing-home resident who has no family or friends who can visit. Application and interview required.
Abused Women's Advocacy Project
A shelter for battered women and their children. Volunteer Positions: 1) Child-care assistant; 2) Hotline staff; 3) Court advocate for women getting protective orders and divorces.
Application, interview, and training required.
Adopt-A-Grandparent
A Bates program. Volunteer Position: Visit an elderly person at a nursing home weekly.
Advocates For Children
Council providing education and services to prevent child abuse and neglect in Androscoggin County. Volunteer Positions: 1) Serve on a committee that works on special projects; 2) Assist an instructor of conferences and workshops for middle-school and junior-high students; 3) Help with any of a number of short-term projects.
American Red Cross
Assists in many facets of the community, from education on life-saving to emergency relief after floods and fires. Volunteer Positions: 1) Teach courses on first aid, water safety, CPR. Training available; 2) Work in an office with a computer and typewriter; 3) Be an instructor for youth programs such as values clarification; 4) Assist with public relations and new releases; 5) Serve on a committee to organize fund raisers, long-range planning, and planned giving; 6) Be trained to take blood pressure at local screening sites; 7) From your room, be on call from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. once a week or month to receive emergency calls related to military families and to call people who have relatives in the military; 8) Be on call as a trained disaster-relief person who can help locally or be sent anywhere in the country where a disaster is occurring.
Androscoggin Head Start and Child Care
Offers a comprehensive and developmentally appropriate preschool program to children in Androscoggin County. Has child care, Head Start, extended-day Head Start, before- and after-kindergarten program, and family day care. Volunteer Position: Be a teacher's assistant in center-based classroom.
Androscoggin Home Health Services
Provides home care and community-based services for those in need. Volunteer Position: Through the hospice volunteer program, work with RNs to provide support to dying adults and children or their relatives. Includes relieving the regular caregiver. Interview and 24-hour training program required. Follow-up bereavement services are provided for volunteers.
Androscoggin Valley AIDS Coalition
Community-based AIDS organization coordinating direct-service volunteers to help people with AIDS. Volunteer Positions: 1) Deliver food baskets; 2) Run a support group; 3) Assist with community events such as World AIDS Day Program and Maine AIDS Walk.
Auburn Adult Education
Assists adults who want to learn how to read, get their GEDs, learn English, update their skills, and find better jobs. Volunteer Positions: 1) Tutor at the Learning Center in basic literacy, computers, and math; 2) Assist in the program for handicapped adults; 3) Be a secretarial assistant.
Auburn Nursing Home
Volunteer Positions: 1) In the activities department, assist in arts and crafts, entertainment, one-on-one games, Bingo calling, dance therapy, and exercise; 2) Visit, read, correspond with and for residents, and do errands.
Auburn Parks and Recreation Department
Organizes seasonal athletic teams and events. Volunteer Positions: Vary with the season, but mostly coaching, refereeing, and field maintenance.
Bates Clothing, Food, and Toy Drives
Held at Thanksgiving, Christmas, at the end of the school year, and when there is an emergency such as a fire. Volunteer Position: Help organize, collect, and distribute clothing, food, and toys.
Bates Outing Club
The Cabins and Trails Committee is responsible for maintaining a section of the Appalachian Trail and can be called on by the Appalachian Mountain Club to maintain other trails in Maine and New Hampshire. Volunteer Position: Assist the committee with trail maintenance.
Blood Drives
Held in Chase Lounge four times a year. Volunteer Positions: 1) Be a donor; 2) Help register donors, carry blood packs, or work at the canteen for an hour; 3) Be on the Blood Drive Committee.
Bolster Heights
Nursing home. Volunteer Positions: 1) Help organize arts and crafts; 2) Set up bingo games; 3) Set up outside trips; 4) Give musical presentations.
Bureau of Mental Retardation
Works to make the quality of life better for people with mental retardation. Volunteer Positions: 1) Catalogue the bureau library; 2) Put any skill or interest to use.
Central Maine Medical Center
Application and interview required. Training will be provided. Volunteer Positions: 1) Transport patients; 2) Staff information desk; 3) Deliver interoffice mail.
Clover Health Care
Nursing home, child day care, and independent-living apartments. Volunteer Positions: 1) Give musical presentation, especially classical music, half hour per month in the afternoon; 2) Tell stories.
Community Concepts
Pays fuel bills, insulates houses, and supplies basic food needs to the needy and provides transportation and loans to people out of work. Volunteer Positions: 1) Research various topics such as who needs fuel assistance; 2) Do clerical work; 3) Assist with various projects.
Department of Human Services
A division of state government that provides services for and protects the rights of all people. Volunteer Positions: 1) Tutor for special requests; 2) Serve as Visitation Supervision Aide (must be 21 years old) to oversee visits between children in the custody of the state and their natural parents; 3) As Client Aide, offer support to single parents.
Dirigo Place
Adolescent group home for both male and female residents in transition. Volunteer Position: Organize activities for residents, such as games, outdoor recreation, arts and crafts.
English as a Second Language
Offers classes and individual tutoring to adults who are new to this country or whose first language is not English. Volunteer Positions: 1) Tutor an individual in reading and writing English; 2) Take part in one-on-one conversations with new immigrants about the United States and what it is like to live here; 3) Assist in filling out forms for medical, educational, and employment purposes.
First Call Information and Referral Service
Provides information on resources in the community. First Call is not a crisis line; it is operated through the United Way. Two shifts available: 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 12:30 p.m.-4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Very flexible. Training provided. Interview, application, and job shadowing required. Volunteer Position: Answer the phone and provide information.
Good Shepherd Food Bank
Provides food to nonprofit organizations that serve the needy. Volunteer Positions: 1) Sort, inspect, shelve, and mark food items; 2) Offer regular cleaning services; 3) Work for the Box Program. Two shifts: 8:30 am-11:30 am and 12:15 pm-3:15 pm.
Habitat For Humanity
An ecumenical Christian housing ministry through which affluent and poor work together as equals to build new houses for those in need, at the same time building new friendships and a sense of community. Volunteer Positions: 1) Help with construction; 2) Help with communications; 3) Develop newsletters; 4) Start a campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity International.
Hope Haven Gospel Mission
A rescue shelter for homeless men and a soup kitchen for street people. Supported by sales from a wood shop and second-hand store. The Anchor Home for Children, a foster-care facility for up to age 14, is a satellite to the mission. Volunteer Positions: 1) Help with special projects; 2) Help in the store; 3) Help in the soup kitchen; 5) Help in the wood shop; 6) Help in the office; 7) Help at Anchor Home.
Lewiston Parks and Recreation Department
Organizes seasonal athletic teams and events. Volunteer Positions: Vary with the season, mostly coaching, refereeing, and field maintenance.
Longley School After-School Programs
Bates program. Volunteer Positions: 1) Play board games with children, provide help with homework, and teach computer use four days a week from 3 p.m.-4 p.m.; 2) Organize a program, making sure that there are always people scheduled to participate on the specified days.
Lost Valley Handicapped Ski Program
Helps handicapped students learn how to ski at Lost Valley Ski Area. Volunteer Position: Teach the disabled how to ski. Volunteer must be at an intermediate ski level or above.
Meals On Wheels
Provides meals to shut-ins who cannot go shopping or cook for themselves. Volunteer Position: Help serve meals and collect donations of food.
Mentor Tutoring Program
Bates program that matches a volunteer with a junior-high or high-school student who would like one-to-one help with an advanced subject. Volunteer Position: Tutor a student at least once a week for an hour.
Morin Chiropractic Center
A rehabilitation center treating patients who have neuromuscularskeletal injuries. Volunteer Positions: 1) Assist in one-to-one rehabilitation sessions; 2) Interview patients; 3) Assist doctor with records; 4) Compile and gather information for statistical analysis; 5) Help design weight-reduction programs. Background in human anatomy, research methods, and statistics helpful.
Murphy Homes
A supported-living program that provides mentally retarded persons the encouragement and means to live in an apartment or house in the community. Volunteer Positions: 1) Assist the client with household chores such as laundry and meal planning; 2) Be on call a couple of hours a week in case the client needs someone to talk to; 3) Socialize with the client in Dutch treat dinners, movies.
New Beginnings Group Homes and Emergency Shelter
Provide a stable, protective environment conducive to the resolution of problems that have caused teens to run away. Volunteer Positions: 1) Offer companionship, peer and mentor counseling; 2) Tutor and assist with skill development; 3) Assist staff mornings, afternoons, evenings, and weekends in shelter and home activities; 4) Offer creative assistance in research, planning, and programming.
One Hundred Pine Street
A social rehabilitation center offering an environment where people with psychiatric disabilities can learn social skills. Volunteer Positions: 1) Help develop a volunteer program; 2) Teach classes in arts and crafts, independent-living skills, etc.
Pathways
A nonprofit agency that provides services for persons of all ages who have disabilities. Volunteer Positions: 1) Assist in the Early Learning Center in the mornings; 2) Be a tutor, recreation assistant, or Big Brother or Sister in the rehabilitation center.
Pine Tree Legal Assistance
Provides legal assistance to those who cannot afford it. Volunteer Position: As an intern, do research, follow up on cases, and perform clerical duties.
Rocking Horse Child Care Center
For preschool children. Volunteer Positions: 1) Assist with play time; 2) Assist with teaching basic skills; 3) Assist with after-school program.
Rural Community Action Ministry
A nonprofit social-service organization that covers a thirteen-town area in Central Maine, providing assistance for a wide range of problems including housing, adolescent pregnancy, emergency fuel, and food. Volunteer Positions: 1) Assist with child care and other support for teens who participate in an Active Parenting Class; 2) Help in the housing program, in which new homes are built in neighboring towns. Volunteer must provide own transportation.
The Salvation Army
An international religious and charitable organization that strives to spread the gospel and win people to Christ, comfort the distressed, and work for a better society. Volunteer Position: 1) Direct after-school activities with young people; 2) Help with many seasonal projects, like Christmas baskets for the needy.
SEARCH
(Seek Elderly Alone, Renew Courage & Hope) Promotes independent living for the elderly. Volunteer Position: 1) Serve as a telephone reassurance volunteer - call three to five elderly people a week to make sure they are okay; 2) Be a home visitor - visit one elderly person a week to assist with shopping, letter writing, etc.
The Sexual Assault Crisis Center
Serves all victims of sexual abuse by providing support programs, prevention and awareness programs, and maintaining a 24-hour crisis hotline. Interview necessary. Volunteer Positions: 1) Be a hotline worker (three weeks of three nights per week training necessary); 2) Develop your own internship; 3) Assist with crisis work in the hospital; 4) Work on special projects.
St. Andre's Home
A group home for up to eight adolescent females. Volunteer Positions: 1) Assist with supervised care and counseling; 2) Tutor; 3) Help with fund-raising activities such as car washes, garage and bake sales.
St. Casimir Health Care Facility
A twenty-four-bed nursing home for the elderly. Volunteer Positions: 1) Visit the residents; 2) Assist activity coordinator with programs; 3) Write letters for residents; 4) Read to residents.
St. Mary's Regional Medical Center
Uses many volunteers to enhance the quality of their services. Volunteer Positions: 1) Provide patient transport and escort; 2) Serve as clerical assistant; 3) Work in gift shop; 4) Staff information desk; 5) Serve as nursing service attendant; 6) Direct activities in the psychiatric unit; 7) Be a Visiting Volunteer 8) Assist with mailings; 9) Assist with blood drives; 10) Provide clinical assistance (day surgery/outpatient clinic)
STAR Tutoring Program
Bates program for junior- high and high-school Students At Risk (STAR). Volunteer Position: Tutor a student for a minimum of one hour a week.
Thorncrag Bird Sanctuary/Stanton Bird Club
Local conservation and environmental-education organization that offers natural-history programs and field trips for local schools and the public. Volunteer Positions: 1) Serve as nature guide for K-12 school groups; 2) Assist with monthly presentations for the Junior Naturalist Program; 3) Help publish a quarterly newsletter; 4) Provide trail maintenance and forest management at Thorncrag; 5) Serve on one of three committees (community relations, stewardship, or education) during the school year.
Tri-County Family Planning
Concerned with women's reproductive health, provides OB-Gyn exams, pregnancy tests, and counseling in birth-control methods. Volunteer Position: Be trained as a counselor to talk about women's reproductive health, methods of birth control, and various other topics related to medicine.
Tri-County Mental Health Services Social Learning Center
Offers daily individualized programming to developmentally disabled adults who are over fifty years old. Volunteer Positions: 1) Assist and provide one-on-one instruction in specific developmental areas to clients needing extra help, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. weekdays; 2) Assist with activities at "Le Club Bon Ami," a social-recreational club that meets on alternate Friday evenings.
Trinity Episcopal Church
An urban ministry training center. Volunteer Positions: 1) Work with inner-city poor in Lewiston; 2) Help with the operation of emergency-food and infant-supply pantry; 3) Help with Sunday School for neighborhood children; 4) Help with Sunday suppers for neighbors.
Wallace School
Elementary school for 150 children, kindergarten through grade 5. Volunteer Positions: 1) Provide direct support to individual students in one-to-one subject tutoring; 2) Read to small groups of students in the classroom.
Washburn School
Elementary school for children kindergarten through grade 3. Volunteer Positions: 1) Provide direct support for individual students in one-to-one subject tutoring; 2) Read to small groups of students in the classroom.
Western Area Agency on Aging
Works to secure and maintain the independence and dignity of older individuals capable of self-care with appropriate support services. Volunteer Positions: 1) Deliver meals; 2) Provide transportation; 3) Provide communications services in the office and community at large; 4) Offer telephone reassurance or be a visiting volunteer.
Western Maine Transportation
Assists people who have no transportation. Volunteer Position: Drive clients to and from appointments. You will be reimbursed for mileage.
YMCA
Located at 62 Turner Street in Auburn. Community organization that provides recreational and educational activities to meet community needs. Volunteer Positions: 1) Babysit young children Saturday mornings; 2) Assist in the preschool swim program; 3) Help coach or referee youth basketball games on Saturdays.
YWCA
Located at 130 East Avenue in Lewiston. Provides childhood, personal-development, and community-oriented programs and events. Volunteer Positions: 1) Direct activities for after-school program for five- to twelve-year-olds; 2) Assist with preschool program for four- and five-year-olds, play group for two- and three-year-olds, and recreation and craft classes; 3) Work with disabled adults in a social/leisure time provided at the Y; 4) Lifeguard; 5) Teach swimming; 6) Assist in gymnastic classes; 7) Work on special events such as the Halloween party and L/A Fest.
YWCA Intervention Program
For teenagers who are or could be in a crisis situation. Reference check required. Volunteer Position: Be a member of the Community Action Council whose concern is continuing to educate the community on unplanned teenage pregnancy. The council meets once a month for 1-1/2 hours in the afternoon. Subcommittee work would also be required and would take more time.
Volunteer Coordinator's Office
(located in Chase Hall in the CSA Office)
Volunteer Coordinator
Laura J. Biscoe
Office Hours 1995-96
Monday - Friday
8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
2:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Phone: (207) 786-6468
Compiled by:
The Volunteer Coordinator's Office
Chase Hall
Bates College
56 Campus Avenue
Lewiston, Maine 04240
6/95
Bates College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, marital or parental status, age, or handicap, in the recruitment and admission of its students, in the administration of its educational policies and programs, or in the recruitment and employment of its faculty and staff.