The Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County has been part of the community fabric for more than 50 years. While so much has changed since opening their doors in 1967, the heart of what they do has remained the same. They are about what happens when hopeful people work together as volunteers to transform our community for good.
In their history, they have proudly stood alongside the community to mobilize volunteers through times of prosperity and through historic challenges like earthquakes, floods, fires, recessions, and now a pandemic.
“While the last year has presented incredible upheaval for our community, never have we been more proud to work in partnership with our neighbors to meet local need,” said Christine Loewe, Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County director of communications.
Two volunteers help with the initial greeting of arrivals at the Watsonville Fairgrounds COVID-10 vaccine clinic.
“Despite the pandemic, we have remained committed to finding safe ways to maintain connections and engage volunteers,” she added. “In 2020, we linked a record number of volunteers and donors to our community. If we have learned anything from the last year, it is that community connections are vital to our sense of hope, people will not be deterred from doing good, and the spirit of giving in Santa Cruz County cannot be diminished.”
Overall, more than 10,000 volunteers helped in 2020 through mask making, grocery shopping for vulnerable seniors, staffing emergency shelters, distributing free food, online tutoring, disseminating emergency preparedness information, holiday giving and more.
“Due to the incredible generosity displayed by our community, we launched into 2021 feeling optimistic about our ability to maintain momentum and continue meeting community needs by supporting safe ways for volunteer action,” said Christina Thurston, Volunteer Center director of volunteer engagement.
After partnering with the County and City of Santa Cruz last summer to connect nearly 2,000 volunteers with fire recovery support, the Volunteer Center kicked off the year by renewing their partnership with the County to enlist volunteers to support vaccine clinics. Nearly 300 people have stepped up thus far to offer support at local clinics throughout the county.
“This will be an ongoing effort in the coming months and we are looking to grow our volunteer registry of non-medical volunteers to support this work,” Thurston said. “Currently, we are recruiting volunteers to support the mass vaccination clinics at the Watsonville Fairgrounds. As more vaccinate clinic locations open when additional vaccines become available, we will develop volunteer shifts to continue to support this effort.”
Vaccine clinic volunteers help with greeting patients, helping them fill out forms, traffic control, acting as a runner, and checking in on patients in the waiting area. Community members are invited to learn more about this role and register to help by visiting the Volunteer Center website at https://scvolunteercenter.org/events-2/vaccine-clinic-volunteers/
This month the Volunteer Center as part of the statewide Listos California Campaign, will work with community partners to disseminate information about vaccine safety and how to access the vaccine. Listos means prepare
“Our goal as a Listos partner is to ensure that every member of our community has the information and access they need, particularly our most vulnerable populations,” Thurston said. “We know that some community members have anxiety about getting the vaccine, are not sure where to get it, don’t know when their turn will be, or how to find further information and we want to alleviate any of the barriers that may prevent folks from getting vaccinated. By engaging community members to volunteer or learn more about vaccine safety, we can fight the impacts of this pandemic and ensure that no one gets left out of the process.”
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Partner with the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County: Learn more about the Volunteer Center, Vaccine Clinic volunteering, and their family of 20 programs by visiting www.scvolunteercenter.org.
Reach Out: 831-427-5070 or email volunteer@scvolunteercenter.org
Sustain our Programs: scvolunteercenter.org/sustain-our-efforts/
