Volunteering at LCS
Volunteers are an essential part of LCS, and Volunteer Coordinators, Jesse Rowley and Morgan Shockley, make sure their time and talents are fully utilized. Jesse and Morgan acknowledge the important support volunteers supply with ongoing tasks like the evening meal, chores and companionship for the guests, but also notes the wide variety of opportunities to help in the short term or in a special capacity. Some of the more specific jobs include: painting, helping with the Good Dog! Biscuit business, caring for the children at the shelter, helping on neighborhood clean-up days, and coordinating drives in the community for basic necessities the shelter runs out of quickly. There is also a need for volunteers with expertise in mental health issues.
Jesse and Morgan help orient new volunteers with brief, informative dialog and a packet of written materials. They keeps records of volunteers and coordinates their availability and interests with the needs of the shelter. They also visits with groups and community members to recruit new volunteers.
“Volunteers are important to LCS for many reasons,” says Jesse. “They help with big jobs when staff and interns need extra hands, they provide connections to the community for guests who may find themselves isolated and feeling invisible, they are ambassadors from the shelter to the rest of the community, and they provide extra eyes to see what is going on in the building and keep the staff informed of needs that the staff might not be aware of.”
The volunteer packet is now available online. Feel free to view, download, print, and fill out the volunteer packet.
Call Jesse Rowley or Morgan Shockley at (785) 832-8864 or email volunteer@lawrenceshelter.org if you'd like to volunteer.