Volunteer Fair offers Diverse Opportunities
By: Valentin Dreher
Staff Writer
The Green River Volunteer Fair will give students a wide variety of opportunities to apply for volunteer positions.
The fair will take place at 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Student Union on Nov. 7.
“The purpose of the Volunteer Fair is to help students find volunteer opportunities that match their passions,” said Robin Dinh, International Student Ambassador, who is in charge of the fair. “Thereby, they can affect positive change in the local community.”
He expects around 100 students and 12 organizations to take part in the event. The organizations are active in a variety of fields, most of them focusing on healthcare, social work, and community support.
One of them is Multicare, an organization that maintains numerous regional hospitals in King County. Jaime Garcia is responsible for 140 volunteers in South King County. He believes that working with Multicare can get student volunteers ahead in life by gaining essential lab skills and experience in the health care scene. Garcia sees volunteers as a vital part of his organization. “We enter into a partnership between staff and volunteers to achieve the best possible outcome for the patient,” he said.
Volunteer coordinator Jeffrey Gustaveson, who works with Casa Latina, believes that volunteer work is also a great way to learn more about social issues affecting members of the community. His working rights organization helps Latino immigrants to find jobs and become leaders in their community.
For that, he relies on the help of local volunteers. “Half of our 300 volunteers are college students,” said Gustaveson. “Most of them have learned about social justice in class and decide to take action,” he added.
He says that working with this organization helps students understand the struggles immigrants are facing and also helps them get in contact with Latino cultures. Both Garcia and Gustaveson agree that the most significant takeaway from volunteering is to learn how to work in a team.
“Volunteer work is all about long-term commitment, starting with showing up and being on time,” said Gustaveson. Garcia adds that the business world can be very different from what students know from college.
“As a volunteer, you learn that people depend on you. This is especially valuable because most future jobs will be teamwork,” Garcia warned.
The Volunteer Fair will also feature opportunities apart from common volunteer positions. For example, the Auburn Symphony Orchestra is looking for volunteers that are interested in the arts. The professional orchestra is looking for ushers and administrative office help.
“Careers in arts have a lot to offer,” said Rachel Perry, the orchestra’s press spokesperson. “With these volunteer positions, we want to enable students to acquire customer service skills and take a look at the administrative side of an arts organization,” said Perry. The volunteers can attend the orchestra’s concerts for free.
The Volunteer fair will not only help students network with the leaders of non-profits in the area, but will also encourage them to discover the many unique ways they can give back to their community.
