Volunteer Fair for Families

For Immediate Release: Friday, April 16, 2010

Washington County Commission on Children and Families, in cooperation with Hands On Greater Portland, is sponsoring a Family Volunteer Fair on Saturday, April 24, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Tom McCall Elementary School, 1341 Pacific Ave., in Forest Grove. "The fair is specially designed to include children from age 3 on up to adults so that the whole family can be a part of it," says Betty Merritt, Program Coordinator for the Washington County Commission on Children and Families. All the activities are free and will benefit a number of Washington County service organizations.

"We noticed that many of the volunteer activities are adult or teen-centered, but there are many services in Washington County that have family-friendly volunteer opportunities. We want to showcase these and help volunteer families find them," says Merritt. She says that many people want to volunteer and give something to the community, "but having an event that allows even small children to participate is a unique volunteer opportunity that encourages volunteerism and giving … We want the little ones to be able to understand what they are doing and why."

Participants in the Family Volunteer Fair are asked to bring a can of food along to help restock the Forest Grove Family Resource Center's Food Pantry. To sign up to volunteer visit www.handsonportland.org

Examples of just some of the activities at the Family Volunteer Fair are:

• Putting literacy stickers in books donated to be distributed to needy families
• Assemble art project kits for use during the Summer Food Program
• Make bookmarks for home-bound patrons of the libraries
• Sort and organize the food pantry for the Forest Grove Family Resource Center
• Plant seeds for future crops through a sustainability program of Pacific University's B Street Farm
• Make buttons for the Libraries' Teen Summer Reading program

Among agencies participating in the fair and providing activities are: Washington County Cooperative Library Services, Childhood Care and Education Committee, local school districts and Summer Food Program sites, Department of Human Services, and the Forest Grove Family Resource Center.

"This project evolves from a need identified in the 2008-2014 Washington County Comprehensive Community Plan for Children and Families for increased awareness of how the community can help," says Merritt.

SIDE BAR:

Here are comments from last year's participants in the Family Volunteer Fair:

"We really enjoyed the opportunity to volunteer and look forward to doing more of it!" – Abby

"It was our first volunteer project and my kids and I enjoyed it." – Janice

"It was a good experience for me, the people that showed up were nice and everything like the projects were great." – Emanuel

"It was a good toe-in-the-water experience." – Carol

"Loved it-- very organized -- very family-friendly" – Sandy

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