W-E Public Library and RSVP team up

For those with too much time on their hands or a desire to give back to the community, the second annual Lake County Volunteer Fair on Oct. 8 may be just the thing.

Willoughby-Eastlake Public Library and RSVP of Lake County have once again partnered to bring organizations who need who volunteers together with people willing to help out.

“The purpose of the fair is to offer people an opportunity to speak to agencies who need volunteers,” RSVP Director Cristen Kane said. “Those attending can speak with the volunteer coordinator directly, complete a volunteer application and determine fairly quickly if it is a volunteer opportunity they would like to pursue.”

According to Kane, the typical process of finding an agency to volunteer with can often involve calling the agency and then waiting for a volunteer application to arrive in the mail prior to scheduling an on-site interview.

The volunteer fair eliminates some of the steps and streamlines the information gathering process, making the process much quicker and easier.

“With 20 agencies to visit, there is a wonderful variety of opportunities to learn about and choose from in one evening,” Kane said. “It saves the person looking for for a volunteer opportunity so much time to have access to 20-plus volunteer options in one building for a few hours.”

Kane also said this is a great way for agencies to gain some exposure and share their mission and need for volunteers directly with the people interested in volunteering.

“The coordinator gets face time with the prospective volunteer and can give many details about the volunteer experiences available at their specific agency,” Kane said. “It’s truly win-win for everyone.”

Last year’s volunteer fair was deemed a success when the coordinator counted over 180 attendees with 100 of those arriving within the first hour of the event.

The coordinators opted to try making it an annual event after receiving positive responses from many of the agencies who reported they were successful securing volunteers after the fair.

Last year’s fair had attendees arriving before the scheduled start time waiting to get in so this year the decision was made to start earlier.

The Volunteer Fair will take place from 2 to 6 p.m., at the Willowick Public Library, 263 E 305th St.

Registration is not required to attend. For additional information, contact Lori Caszatt at lori.caszatt@welibrary.info

THE NEWS-HERALD FILE Cristen Kane, director of RSVP Lake County and one of the event organizers for the first Lake County Volunteer Fair held at the Willowick Public Library in October 2017, speaks with attendees about volunteer opportunities.