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Volunteer Washington County gearing up for kickoff
To begin with, VWC will be a satellite office of Volunteer Mobile. VWC will provide citizens of Washington County with a single resource for finding out about volunteer opportunities in the county. The project is the brainchild of Shirley Singleton, her sister Audrey and Probate Judge Charles Singleton. Judge Singleton became aware of Volunteer Mobile when "Ivan" came through, and it has been a dream of his since. He says he spoke to people about it when he was campaigning for office. "We have all kinds of needs in Washington County," he said. "Our county has great people who want to help. We are working on getting the volunteers and the needs together." Very soon VWC will have a Web site where citizens who desire to become a part of this group can sign on. Also, the needs within the county will also be posted there. VWC volunteers will go into hospitals and nursing homes to assist paid staff; into schools to mentor and instruct; there'll be library volunteerism, etc. One of the more notable areas of volunteerism is the "history telling" project where children sit and listen to the elderly tell of the past; and follow through recording this local history before it is gone. And of course, volunteers will be available in catastrophic events such as hurricanes, fires, wrecks. After the VWC is up and running, it will become a freestanding 501-C3 organization, no longer a satellite of Mobile. VWC will be financed by individual and business contributions and all donations are tax deductible. Shirley Singleton serves as chairman and Audrey Singleton as co-chairman of Volunteer Washington County. VWC has a board of directors in place and at today's meeting there were people from each of several communities of the county who will serve as community coordinators. They will receive training and serve as resource people within their communities advocating and educating the public on how they can benefit from this new service. VWC already has the first project underway: sending children who will enter sixth grade next year to Camp Preparedness at Huntsville Sept.11-15. They will learn what children can do in the event of an emergency. The children will be given a helmet, backpack, vests, etc. for use at such times. There will be a graduation exercise at the end of the camp.
The official, public launch of Volunteer Washington County will be June 14, at the Washington County Public Library with an open house from 2-4 p.m. Agencies and individuals can come to see a demonstration of the 1-800 Volunteer system and also register for VWC.
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