Volunteer Fair Attracts Do-Gooders, Chocolate Lovers by Faith Richards On Tuesday, Feb. 12, over 37 community organizations from Oberlin College, Lorain County, and Cuyahoga County gathered in Wilder Main to participate in the Volunteer Fair. Students interested in community volunteer opportunities browsed the tables, where representatives from each group dispensed goodies ranging from silver-foil kisses to chocolate chip cookies and eagerly discussed their programs. The Conservatory’s Arcangel String Quartet offered entertainment. The event was sponsored by the Center for Service and Learning in order to provide an opportunity for organizations within the community to tap into Oberlin’s rich student resources. Many of the organizations giving information and advertising volunteer jobs, such as Pathways Enrichment Center, provide support, mentoring and tutoring for children throughout Lorain County. Many organizations, such as Americorps, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and Big Brothers, Big Sisters, are also branches of national organizations, Americorps, an organization that provides service opportunities in many fields throughout the United States, runs a tutoring program called Project STRIVE through the Volunteer Action Center of Greater Lorain County. STRIVE works with children in the Lorain county public schools. Senior Lila Elliott has spent two years volunteering with the program and enthusiastically recommends her job. She currently works 12-14 hours per week tutoring students from the Boys and Girls Club and Prospect Elementary School. “The best part has been being in a long-term program and working with the same group of kids day in and day out,” Elliott said. For those unwilling or unable to devote so much time to a volunteer program, there are plenty of other opportunities. Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Lorain County, for example, has a mentoring program where volunteers spend only one and a half hours per week working with one child. Other organizations appeal to those whose talents or interests lie outside the realm of working with children. The Second Harvest Food Bank, the Lorain County Free Clinic, the Lorain County Rape Crisis Center, the Interfaith Committee on Global Climate Change, the United Nations Reform Organization, the Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization, Oberlin Hot Meals and the Lorain County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities were all present and willing to offer flexible positions and hours to students wishing to volunteer or participate in internships. Students interested in finding an outlet for community service may do anything number of things, including socializing with and chaperoning citizens with mental retardation on trips, providing free medical and dental care, writing letters to senators, being a museum guide and part of a living history pageant. “Oberlin students are wonderful to work with,” Community Outreach Advocate for the Lorain County Rape Crisis Center Kay Jones said. Of course, there are the familiar campus-based organizations offering a wide variety of volunteer jobs such as Ohio PIRG, Student Health Services and the newly formed Oberlin Design Initiative. Student Health is looking for research assistants on the topics ranging from sexual health to substance abuse, while Ohio PIRG is looking for more people to write postcards objecting to companies drilling for natural gas on Lake Eerie. Oberlin Design Initiative, a new organization, is looking for students to assist in research on industry, economics and local business in Oberlin. Although the Volunteer Fair was an opportunity for community organizations to promote their jobs as a group, community service and volunteering options are always available to students through the Center for Service and Learning, located at 68 S. Professor Street. Interested students should visit the center or contact Assistant Director Peter Obbuji at peter.ogbuji@oberlin.edu.

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