RSVP sharing its volunteer force with other nonprofits
For nearly 50 years, RSVP has been dispatching volunteers to help improve the lives of the most vulnerable groups in the area.
Now the longtime multiservice nonprofit is looking to share its base of 1,200 volunteers with other nonprofits who may currently be in need of a helping hand during the COVID-19 crises.
Nonprofit organizations are asked to share their immediate volunteer needs to RSVP by visiting www. rsvpmc.org, but that’s only one way groups can connect with the King of Prussia-based agency.
“We have put the call out on social media and have partnered with Montgomery County Health and Human Services to coordinate all of the volunteer efforts during this crisis,” noted executive director Michele Moll. “On the www.montcopa.org/2783/Healthand-Human-Services you just click on the ‘volunteers’ button and it brings you right to the RSVP site and you can sign up and see where the most pressing needs are right now. All volunteers that reach out to them are being sent to us to be registered, and then we can send them to any nonprofit that needs them the most. Normally throughout the year we have about 150 nonprofit partners we work with to support their volunteer needs, including Meals On Wheels. Those are the agencies that we have been reaching out to personally to see what their ongoing needs are, and now we are bringing in other nonprofit partners that we wouldn’t even have had as partners and we’re offering that to them as well. Right now, food is number one, and wellness checks for seniors is another area that is going to be a priority.”
In most instances, RSVP has typically run its own programs serving educational and health needs in the community,
“This is something that is very unusual but we are happy to help,” Moll said. “We’re getting a lot of calls from Meals on Wheels, the Medical Reserve Corps, senior centers that are needing help getting meals prepared and delivered. So we’re help to help organize and mobilize these volunteers. So we want to know from the nonprofits what are their current needs and how can we get them the people need. “
RSVP is also partnering with the Montgomery County Anti-Hunger Coalition as well as Catholic Social Services and others that are reaching out, Moll pointed out.
“We’re compiling all the needs, including locations and times when they need volunteers and then we’re coordinating volunteers to refer to them,” Moll said.
With 1,200 volunteers on hand, RSVP has access to more help in a time of need that any other nonprofit, Moll allowed.
“For 46 years that’s what we’ve been doing, placing volunteers not only for our programs but also through Montgomery, Chester and Delaware counties,” Moll said. We have a lot of volunteers in the area who have been over the age of 65 and have not been working, so now it’s time for all the younger and healthier people to come out and join in the effort and support them. And the kids that are not in school and are not getting their normal free meals, so that’s a concern for families.”
Help On call, which offers help for low income seniors, is one of several organizations that RSVP interacts with regularly.
“We’re trying to make sure that all those individuals have what they need. We sign them up for Meals On Wheels if they don’t already have it, or have medication delivered. We know that not all of our volunteers are not able to respond right now, so we’ve opened it up to even more volunteers.
We have a network where people know who we are and are learning who we are even more now that we can provide them with a variety of different opportunities. We definitely will need more volunteers. Whether there’s a need now or not, there will be a need in the next week or two. And people really want to help. It’s heartwarming to see the response to this. Even though it’s such a horrible crises,” she added, “I think it’s bringing us all closer together to try to help the most vulnerable. It’s the seniors that can’t get out and we’re trying to protect them the most.”