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Volunteer Opportunities

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Advocacy and Support Groups

Domestic Violence Intervention and Prevention Program
For more information, contact Rita Smeyak, 765-423-1118 or email dvipp@dcwi.com

Women's Cancer Program
For more information, contact Ruth Breyley at 765-742-4375

Community Groups and Organizations

Lafayette Crisis Center
The Crisis Center could not operate without its 80-100 volunteers. Volunteers come from all walks of life. Four times a year, the Crisis Center provides over 45 hours of intensive training to enable our volunteers to provide confidential, individualized service. Each volunteer must:

be at least 18 years of age
be a good listener
be able to successfully complete the volunteer training
be able to work 39 four-hour shifts over a one-year period of time

For more information, check out the Volunteer Job Description.

Mental Health Association in Tippecanoe County
Volunteering is simple! It's fun! And it makes a difference in people's lives! The Mental Health Association in Tippecanoe County is a volunteer based agency. Opportunities are available based on each volunteer's time, interests, capabilities, and talents. Volunteer training and ongoing in-services are provided. Volunteers providing a variety of services are always welcomed! From assisting with graphic design, meal preparation, landscaping, computer training, fundraising, filing, to doing mental health research. If you'd like to help support mental health in Tippecanoe County, please give us a call at 765-742-1800 and ask how you can make a difference in someone's life.

Reading Teams
Do you have fond memories of reading as a young child with a parent, teacher, or other caring adult? Well, reading is an integral aspect of every child's early years! The Reading Teams program, which began as an action plan from the "Stopping Child Abuse Summit" last November, is designed to provide opportunities for young children to read with conscientious adults and teenagers in the community. These reading interactions can help instill a love for learning and reading, help aid in mental development and skills, and build a bond between a child and a good role model. Community efforts to read with or to children is not only about the thoroughly worthy cause of helping kids to read better, it is also essential for those kids who do not regularly get the chance to talk with a heedful adult.

The Reading Teams program brings volunteers to the children at daycares to allow for individualized exchanges of reading and communication. The concept of the program is that groups of reading volunteers can form teams to make the volunteer times more flexible for individuals. Reading teams can initiate from school staff or students, business employees, churches, athletic teams, service organizations, neighborhoods, or any group of interested upstanding community members. Each team will be responsible for sending two or three volunteers to one of the five reading locations on a designated weekly or monthly basis, depending upon the availability of the team members. Each volunteer will read to two or three preschool-age children for about 20-30 minutes and then switch to a new set of kids until the volunteer has read to three shifts of kids or for a time span of about one hour.

Reading with young children is a highly rewarding experience both for the child and the volunteer who gets to enjoy the innocent excitement and energy of the children. The Reading Teams program hopes to make these opportunities for reading with children both convenient and constructive. At the end of August, Reading Teams will have a preparatory meeting at which teams can choose their reading routine and location(s). The reading visits will begin in September. Reading is so important to the success of youths and, therefore, to the well-being of the community. If ever a question or comment arises about the Reading Teams program, please contact program coordinator Brittany Oliver at reading2children@hotmail.com

Special Events and Festivals

Strawberry Festival
Many volunteers are needed each year for the YWCA Strawberry Festival, held on the first Saturday in June. If you are interested in volunteering at the festival, please call Brett Hughes of the YWCA at (765) 742-0075.

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