WinCity Helps has launched!

After months of work and data col­lec­tion, a new ser­vice designed to match vol­un­teers with com­mu­ni­ty orga­ni­za­tions seek­ing help has launched in Winchester.

I’m proud to announce that WinCity Helps is now live! 

Two Clark County orga­ni­za­tions, WinCity Media, Inc. and the Humanists of Winchester, have part­nered to cre­ate the web­site and data­base that aims to be a “one-stop shop” for vol­un­teers seek­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties and orga­ni­za­tions need­ing vol­un­teer help.

All of this grew out of a dis­cus­sion at a win­ter meet­ing of the Humanists of Winchester, a group that Ron Kibbey and I belong to. Someone asked me about get­ting involved in vol­un­teer­ing in the com­mu­ni­ty, and I turned to Ron because every­one knows he is the go-to guy in Winchester for such matters.

Although Ron had a wealth of infor­ma­tion about orga­ni­za­tions need­ing vol­un­teer help, we all decid­ed a com­mu­ni­ty web­site that orga­nizes all the infor­ma­tion and keeps up to date would be a tremen­dous help, both to peo­ple seek­ing to help out and to groups look­ing for volunteers. 

The web­site, which can be accessed at https://www.wincityhelps.org, has been in devel­op­ment since January. So far, 18 Clark County orga­ni­za­tions have sub­mit­ted vol­un­teer require­ments to the site, and they are list­ed along with con­tact infor­ma­tion and details that include the type of work they do, the types of vol­un­teer work they seek, fre­quen­cy of need, and more. Potential vol­un­teers can find the right fit for their skills, inter­ests, and availability.

We hope to increase vol­un­teerism in the com­mu­ni­ty and pro­vide a sat­is­fy­ing out­let for stu­dents, retirees, and any­one with time and a desire to serve the peo­ple of Winchester and its environs.

Much data has been col­lect­ed from area orga­ni­za­tions, which include non­prof­its, gov­ern­ment agen­cies, faith-based and sec­u­lar orga­ni­za­tions, and oth­ers that uti­lize vol­un­teer work and pro­vide ser­vices to Clark County res­i­dents. Organizations that have not sub­mit­ted their vol­un­teer needs can still do so by vis­it­ing the website.

Ron, a well-known retired social work­er and com­mu­ni­ty activist, point­ed out that the miss­ing link in Clark County is match­ing peo­ple to vol­un­teer opportunities.

“Many [orga­ni­za­tions] rely on vol­un­teers to help in their ser­vice pro­vi­sion. And our com­mu­ni­ty has many oppor­tu­ni­ties to assist oth­ers and pro­grams that are des­per­ate for assistance.”

Ron and I are both active in WinCity Media and the Humanists of Winchester, so the col­lab­o­ra­tion was a nat­ur­al fit. We want to do this for Winchester and Clark County. The project fits per­fect­ly with the val­ues of WinCity Voices, the Humanists of Winchester, and us per­son­al­ly. Naturally, I am very excit­ed to have reached the stage of reveal­ing our shiny new web­site to the community. 

Okay, Clark County, let’s get to helping!