The Orem Animal Shelter seeks volunteers to help maintain the shelter and assist with animal adoptions.
Volunteers are needed to assist in a variety of tasks, including feeding the animals, helping in the office, cleaning the kennels and arranging the adoption of pets.Volunteers, who must be at least 16, may also be asked to help in setting up a new community education program.
Albert Loris, director of animal control, said the shelter's small staff, coupled with the 500-plus animals brought in each month, has caused the need for extra volunteers.
Individuals are welcome to set their own volunteer schedules. The animal shelter is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Volunteers will be asked to complete a background check application before they begin working.
The animal shelter seeks a volunteer coordinator to direct the efforts of the shelter's volunteers.
The coordinator is needed three to four hours per week and will work directly with the animal control director.
Other volunteer opportunities are available throughout Utah County. Some of these opportunities are listed below.
- Be instrumental in helping teens finish high school. The Alpine Life and Learning Center, which provides an alternative style of teaching and learning for students working toward a high school diploma, needs volunteers to help tutor students in a variety of subjects, including math, English and science.
Volunteers help students in both a one-on-one setting and in a lab where students can ask for assistance with their homework. Volunteers, who must be at least 17 years old, can help anytime between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday.
- Help care for elderly individuals.
Family Hospice, a provider of medical care and emotional and spiritual support to terminally ill individuals and their families, needs volunteers to do light housekeeping, run errands and provide companionship to residents.
Volunteers, who must be 18 or older, may give one hour or more of their time per week. Twenty hours of pre-service training will be provided by Family Hospice.
- Use your Spanish to assist victims of domestic violence.
The Center for Women and Children in Crisis, which provides shelter for families who are homeless due to domestic violence, is looking for a Spanish-speaking volunteer to serve as an on-call interpreter for Hispanic clients.
Volunteers must be at least 20 and willing to come to the center on short notice.
- Grandmother needed to help in storytelling. The Provo City Library wants one volunteer to serve as a grandmother, assisting in telling stories to groups of children.
The volunteer is needed Wednesday mornings from 9:30 to noon and will help display crafts and props during the story-telling time.
The library also needs a volunteer to help with data entry Saturdays, any time between 9:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.
For more information about these and other volunteer opportunities throughout Utah County, call the United Way Volunteer Center at 374-8108 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or visit the United Way of Utah County Web site at (www.utahcounty.unitedway.org).