The Mission of the Haywood Jackson Volunteer Center is to promote community service by engaging volunteers and linking them to opportunities addressing community needs. Contact John Chicoine at 828-356-2833 or [email protected] for more info on any volunteer opportunity.
HAYWOOD COUNTY
ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION-WNC
Mission: The Alzheimer’s Association leads the way to end Alzheimer’s and other dementia- by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection and maximizing quality care and support.
Volunteer Needs: Community Educator, community representative, Support group facilitator.
AMERICAN RED CROSS- HAYWOOD CO CHAPTER
Mission: Community help when needed
Volunteer: Needs: Bloodmobile drive help, Office help, Greeters, Disaster Responder-sheltering, Disaster Action Team Member, Duty Officer, Resiliency Facilitator
THE ARC OF HAYWOOD COUNTY
Mission: Is to serve and enrich the lives of individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. The Arc encourages individuals to identify their hopes and dreams and provides the program services to achieve them.
Volunteer Needs: People to serve on committees such as Residential Services, Human Rights, Board of Directors, Fundraising, Special Events, Facility Maintenance, & Office Assistance
AUTUMN CARE
Mission: “Service Above Self” to provide care & quality of life while they are in our facility for short term rehab or long term care.
Volunteer Needs: Help with individual or group activities & games, play an instrument or sing, sit on the porch with residents, or other activities depending on interest.
BETHEL RURAL COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
Mission: To help the people of the Bethel Community and to support and enhance rural lifestyles.
Volunteer Needs: Go to website: Bethelrural.org
BIG BROTHERS/ BIG SISTERS
Mission: To develop children’s self esteem and character through volunteer mentoring programs and friendship to help them achieve their highest potential
Volunteer Needs: Mentors 18 years of age for the community program, 16 years of age for the school-based program.
CREEKSIDE VILLAS
Mission: To help residents have a better quality of life during their stay
Volunteer Needs: Bingo/crafts, Church 1/2 Sundays, Visiting residents
FELINE URGENT RESCUE (FUR)
Mission: as guardians of displaced felines, our mission is to provide a safe haven for cats thereby reducing the homeless population, the shelter euthanasia rates, and filling a gap in the rescue community as a last resort sanctuary.
Volunteer Needs: Sanctuary volunteers-cleaning, socialization- play and socialize the cats, transportation
FOUR SEASONS COMPASSION FOR LIFE
Mission: Our staff ensures that patients and families going through an incredibly challenging time are cared for. Our team of professionals that minister to the body, mind and spirt and emotional components that comprise us all.
Volunteer Needs: Patient & family support(visits to patients in assisted living facilities and nursing homes for socialization; visit homes to relieve the caregiver by providing respite care)
FRANCIS GRIST MILL
Mission: Restore and preserve the 127 year Francis Grist Mill
Volunteer Needs: Volunteers to help with school groups, parking for special events, and giving information as well as collecting tickets.
FRIENDS OF THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
Mission: Assist the National Park Service in it’s mission to preserve and protect the Great Smoky Mountains National Park by raising funds and public awareness, and providing volunteers for needed projects.
Volunteer Needs: Experienced hikers with First Aid knowledge; Phone callers to renew memberships; Help with Special Events; Help with counting donations from various donation boxes.
GREATER HAYWOOD COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Mission: Fostering growth of business in Haywood County and visitor information services to welcome guests and help promote our tourism partners
Volunteer Needs: Front desk greeter, help prepare special events, office work
GUARDIAN AD LITEM
Mission: To provide trained independent advocates to represent and promote the best interests of abused, neglected and dependent children in the court system and to work towards a plan that ensures that these children are in a safe, permanent home.
Volunteer Needs: Child Advocates
HAYWOOD CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
Mission: To provide care in the name of Jesus Christ to persons in crisis. To be a clearinghouse for outreach concerns that are shared by the churches of Haywood County and to offer spiritual and material assistance to extend those resources that are available through the cooperating churches and volunteers.
Volunteer Needs: Receptionist, interviewer, food pantry worker, client’s clothing worker, sorter of donations, cleaning, grounds maintenance and furniture pick-up worker.
HAWA SPAY/NEUTER
Mission: Serving the community by providing low-cost spay/neuter services
Volunteer Needs: Office/computer help, feral cat trapping, crate cleaning and bi-weekly spay neuter transport support
HAYWOOD COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL
Mission: Art classes, gallery exhibits, Junior Appalachian Music program, Mind the Music Senior Piano Lessons, Young Artist Concert, Dance Aris, Artist demonstrations, artist workshops.
Volunteer Needs: Gallery docent, administrative assistance, special event assistance, fairs and festivals booth attendants.
FREINDS OF THE HAYWOOD CO. PUBLIC LIBRARY
Mission: Assist the library in their mission.
Volunteer Needs: Work in the bookstore.
HAYWOOD HABITAT FOR HUMANITY
Mission: Seeking to put God’s love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build homes, communities and hope.
Volunteer Needs: Construction Work – Skilled or Unskilled, Provide meals for volunteers on construction sites, Join a committee (many choices); ReStore- sales & customer service, stocking, sales displays.
HAYWOOD COUNTY MEALS ON WHEELS
Mission: To assure that each individual that seeks assistance with home delivered meals is given the opportunity to benefit from the Meals on Wheels program.
Volunteer Needs: The Meals on Wheels Program utilizes volunteers who deliver the meals to our recipients. They use their own vehicles to deliver one day per week on a regular basis.
HAYWOOD COUNTY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT
Mission: The Haywood County Tourism Development Authority has a long tradition of tourism marketing, having been one of the first counties in North Carolina to authorize the creation of a TDA and invest in countywide destination promotion.
Volunteer Needs: four hour shifts one or two days a week. Answering phones and helping with walk in traffic.
HAYWOOD COUNTY SPECIAL OLYMPICS
Volunteer Needs: Each year, coaches are needed to help disabled children & adults in a variety of sports competitions.
HAYWOOD HOSPICE & PALLIATIVE CARE
Mission: Hospice offers compassionate care for the terminally ill, their families, and the caregivers. Anyone with a life expectancy of less than six months can benefit from Hospice Services whether at home or in a nursing facility.
Volunteer Needs: Direct Patient Care; Office Support; Bereavement Support.
HAYWOOD REGINONAL MEDICAL CENTER VOLUNTEERS
Mission: Hospital volunteers provide and facilitate non-professional healthcare services to patients and their families. They also raise funds to provide scholarships to deserving nursing and other healthcare students enrolled in the local community college.
Volunteer Needs: 3 hour shifts at the front desk, staff the volunteer gift shop, patient transport/escort.
HAYWOOD PATHWAYS CENTER
Mission: In Christ’s name, feed the hungry, house the homeless and reduce recidivism in Haywood County
Volunteer Needs: Meal prep-Breakfast lunch and dinner, spokesman for Holly Cow food truck, organizing/sorting, yard work, maintenance, IT assistance, babysitting, clerical help, drivers to pick up MANNA.
HAYWOOD AARP TAXAIDE
Mission: AARP Foundation works to end senior poverty by helping vulnerable older adults build economic opportunity and social connectedness. AARP Foundation Tax-Aide is the nation’s largest volunteer based free tax assistances and preparation service, offering tax help to anyone.
Volunteer Positions: Needed February through April- Tax preparers, client fascinators, appointment schedulers.
HAYWOOD WATERWAYS ASSOCIATION
Mission: Promote awareness for clean streams and restoration work.
Volunteer Needs: VWIN water sampling, stream restoration work, water shed planning, public education.
KIDS ADVOCACY RESOURCE EFFORT (KARE INC)
Mission: ending child abuse and neglect through advocacy, education and support.
Volunteer Needs: administrative/clerical, facility maintenance. School Safety Program Each year, our dedicated volunteers go to every elementary classroom in Haywood County, from kindergarten through fifth grade, to teach children about personal safety. Some of our volunteers have been with us for over a decade, and some have even been with us since KARE’s beginning in 1991. For them and us it’s paramount that children know what to do if they feel threatened or have been victimized. KARE offers age-appropriate instruction via DVD presentations and take home materials on how to stay alert and stay safe.
MAGGIE VALLEY CHAMBER & VISITOR & CONVENTION BUREAU
Mission: To inform visitors & resident of any & all events in the area. Visitors rely on information we distribute whether it is lodging, events, directions, & any other questions that may aid in giving them a great vacation experience.
Volunteer Needs: answering phones, greeting visitors, volunteers for special events through the year
MAPLE LEAF ADULT RESPITE
Mission: To provide supervision, nutrition and activities to participants and respite to caregivers
Volunteer Needs: assist us with helping clients upon arrival and departure. Socializing and comforting those who need it. Assist with activities.
MOUNTAIN PROJECTS
Senior Companion- assist a senior and receives a stipend (income requirements) that does not affect your social security.
Foster Grandparent- assist a child at a school and receives a stipend (income requirements) that does not affect your social security.
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE BUGLE CORPS
Volunteer Needs: assist with volunteering to educate the public while being among the elk at Cataloochee.
PIGEON COMMUNITY MULTICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT CENTER
Mission: To promote and facilitate harmony among residents of our community, by helping to re-establish the long standing tradition of family. To achieve this we will concentrate on the involvement of all people within the community, intellectually, physically, morally and economically for the betterment of our communities and to the glory of God
Volunteer Needs: Tutors/Mentors, Arts & Crafts, Recreation Leaders, Spanish Teacher, Clerical Duties, Food Service Helpers,Computer Maintenance
PISGAH LEGAL SERVICES
Mission: To reduce inequitable access to healthcare and of child poverty in all 18 counties in Western North Carolina and to do so in an accessible way for all consumers in need of our services.
Volunteer Needs: Pisgah Legal Services is searching for volunteers to join our Health and Economic Opportunities Program. Become certified for free to assist our clients with VITA tax preparation and enrolling in health insurance as a navigator.
REACH OF HAYWOOD COUNTY
Mission: To provide safety for victims of domestic violence/sexual assault and to empower survivors to achieve self-sufficiency in a violence-free and stable environment. By means of community outreach, education & advocacy, we seek to serve all persons with support services that enables them to live with dignity and self-respect.
Volunteer Needs: Helpline Volunteers; “Within REACH” resale Store Volunteers, Office Assistance
SARGE’S ANIMAL RESCUE FOUNDATION
Mission: To save healthy, adoptable animals from euthanasia at the the Haywood County Animal Control Facility.
Volunteer Needs: Transport Drivers. Foster Homes for Cats & Dogs, Fundraising Committee, Office Assistance, Crate Cleaning
SHELTON HOUSE-MUSEUM OF NORTH CAROLINA
Mission: The mission of the Shelton House is to sustain it’s historical nature and grounds and to promote our North Carolina heritage of handicrafts, western North Carolina history and the Shelton family legacy.
Volunteer needs: Museum docents, administrative assistance, curatorial assistance, special event assistance, fair and festivals booth attendants.
SMOKY MTN HEALTH CARE & REHAB CENTER
Mission: Caring for people in Long of Short Care Rehab
Volunteer Needs: Weekend volunteer to answer the phone, greet visitors, also people during the week to help with activities and visit with residents.
SILVER BLUFF VILLAGE
Mission: do our best to create a home-like environment for our residents and family members
Volunteer Opportunities: Bingo and other activities, paid positions for retirees also available.
SOCIETY OF ST. ANDREWS OF WNC
Mission: To salvage good fresh, nutritious fruits and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste and give them to people that are hungry
Volunteer Needs: Gleaning/harvesting produce, distributing food
THE COMMUNITY KITCHEN
Mission: provide hot meals to those in need and help renew hope in people.
Volunteer Needs: – Daytime (usually between the hours of 8 & 4) sorting, cleaning, stocking the kitchen and pantry. This includes sorting the produce etc that comes in from Food Lion and Wal-mart
– Picking up daily from Food Lion in Canton (produce, bakery, meat etc) This requires an SUV or truck. Pick up is made between 10:30 – noon. Food must be weighed and sorted at the Kitchen (usually have at least 1 person to help)
– Volunteer teams to cook. We have several open dates each month and are looking for teams of 5-10 to prep, cook, serve, and clean up our nightly meal. Dinner is 5-6. Prep time and clean-up varies depending on teams.
– Last minute helpers – Sometimes teams are short or due to circumstances cancel last minute for dinner. We need to increase our list of individuals we can call for help cooking, serving and cleaning. This is often same day.
– Monthly Deep cleaning. This is deep cleaning in the kitchen area. Including the equipment, shelves, floors, walls etc.
THE SALVATION ARMY OF WNC
Mission: “Salvationist of the WNC Command” commit to development in ourselves and others through meeting the most basic needs and providing hope to the hopeless in all of our actions and attitudes.
Volunteer Needs: immediate needs are Family Store Volunteers (warehouse) and our Emergency Services Office receptionist. The Family Store hours can vary M-S, 8:30a-6:30p. The Receptionist hours most needed are Tues & Thurs 8:30-4:30
WAYNESVILLE PARKS AND REC
Mission: to promote quality recreation opportunities for all citizens of the greater Waynesville area.
Volunteer Needs: concession stand operator, front desk greeter/answer phones.
WAYNESVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT CIVILIAN VOLUNTEERS
Mission: The mission of the Waynesville Police Department(WPD) Civilian Volunteers(CV) is to provide assistance to the WPD at select Town of Waynesville(TOW) events and in other activities, as requested; actively highlight the positive contributions of the Department in the community; organize and conduct an annual educational community outreach program, the Civilian Police Academy; and, to be ambassadors for the WPD and the ToW with educational and safety related support for the community.
Volunteer Needs: Training for the Civilian Volunteer program is held at the WPD and the application is available at: https://www.waynesvillenc.gov/department/police/civilian-police-academy Volunteers assist with parades, marathons, festivals, traffic and parking.
YMCA OF WNC NUTRITION PROGRAMS
Mission: With over 18% of all North Carolina families suffering from food insecurity, the Y is working hard to turn the tide for a healthier Western North Carolina. Through the Healthy Mobile Kitchen, food is being distributed to local families, along with practical, cost-effective cooking demonstrations to make a lasting impact on our community.
Distribution Volunteer: This position helps with greeting participants, helping them shop as well as weighing out bags. We aim to create an inclusive, welcoming environment that embraces the community and demonstrates our core values of honesty, caring, respect and responsibility. These are standards we hold to our volunteers and hope our volunteers hold us to. The dates are every 2nd and 4th Tuesday from 3:15-4:45pm to include set up and clean up. The actual distribution happens from 3:30-4:30pm
