Resource center hosts

festival at Boone Mall
By Caroline Monday
cmonday@mountaintimes.com

Volunteerism was in the air at the Boone Mall this Saturday as local non-profit groups and community members participated in the Volunteer Resource Center’s Volunteer Fest.

The annual event gives local charitable organizations the opportunity to share their work and volunteer opportunities with the community.

“The turnout is spectacular,” VRC executive director and event organizer Janet Pepin said at the event.

Thirty-two organizations set up information booths at the mall on Saturday, giving hundreds of mall-goers the opportunity to learn about their work.

This year’s Volunteer Fest featured a new event; one that Pepin said will be repeated. Organizations were invited to recruit walkers for the Human Race, a fundraising event held during the hour before the Volunteer Fest began.

Pepin said she was pleased with how the fundraiser turned out, especially for its first year.

Walkers in the Human Race were invited to recruit sponsors who would donate a predetermined amount for each step they took over the course of the hour, with a maximum of 1,000 steps.

The walkers found that 1,000 steps was not enough, being only enough steps for about two laps around the mall’s main corridor, Pepin said.

She said next year’s event will have a higher maximum number of steps.

About 35 walkers from six different organizations participated. Those organizations were Cove Creek Farm, the Mediation and Restorative Justice Center, the Children’s Playhouse, Genesis Wildlife Sanctuary,

Community Care Clinic and the American Red Cross.

Organizations were responsible for organizing their own sponsorships and collecting the money.
“We just wanted to create the venue,” Pepin said.

Cove Creek Farm, an organization serving at-risk youth, hosted the most walkers in the Human Race. Chris Christenbury founder and executive director of Cove Creek Farm, said a member of the agency’s board of directors learned of the fundraising opportunity and “ran with it.”

The members found sponsors for each of the young men staying at the farm.

Pepin said the fundraiser is in keeping with the VRC’s mission to serve area agencies. She said the idea for the Human Race is not a new one, but rather a fundraising concept that is rising in popularity across the country.

The theme for this year’s Volunteer Fest was “Volunteering is Heart Work.” Pepin said the meaning of this theme is two fold. “I think our community demonstrates quite a bit of compassion, and I think the heart represents that,” she said.

The theme also uses a play on words, sounding similar to “hard work.” Pepin said this play on words is meant to recognize volunteers for the sacrifices they make for local organizations.

“Volunteers put in so much time and effort,” she said, “and they don’t do it casually.”

Many organizations depend heavily on volunteers. Nancy Blair, membership specialist for the Girl Scout Council of the Catawba Valley Area, said her organization is in constant need of adult volunteers to be troop leaders. She said she also wants to inform people that troops accept girls throughout the year, not just during the fall registration period.

Leslie Hayhurst of Genesis Wildlife Sanctuary said her agency too depends on volunteerism. In addition to volunteers who care for animals, Genesis needs individuals with skills ranging from general maintenance to public outreach and fundraising.

In addition to recruiting volunteers, the Volunteer Fest gives representatives from the area’s nonprofits an opportunity to network.

Kathy Parham of the Children’s Playhouse said she used the event to collaborate on an idea for a program with members of Friends for Life, which had a table next to Parham’s.

VRC offers resources year-round, in addition to the annual Volunteer Fest, through its Web site myhcvrc.com.