Volunteer pool depleted, local organizations to hold volunteer fair

A volunteer fair will be held Sunday, Jan. 15, in the gym of the Salvation Army Cape Girardeau Corps Community Center. Those with a desire to volunteer their time and skills will have the opportunity to visit booths for many organizations in the Cape Girardeau area.

The pool of volunteers has become shallow, so Mark Hotop, volunteer coordinator for the organization Voices for Children, said he decided to create a volunteer fair to try to raise the level back to pre-COVID numbers.

"Our office requires volunteers to make our vision happen," Hotop said. "And I've talked to other organizations around the area who require volunteers as well, and they are hurting just as much as we are."

Hotop said volunteer numbers were reduced during COVID and organizations were prevented from recruiting new members.

"My goal was to have this volunteer fair and hopefully bring out the local people who don't know these organizations exist, or what they do, or have never volunteered before, and hopefully get them to step up and do some volunteer time," Hotop said.

He said he has sent out a save-the-date notice to several organizations to let them know about the fair, and will soon be sending out forms so they can sign up for booth space. He said he's heard back from a few organizations, such as Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri, Old Town Cape Inc. and the Salvation Army, who donated the use of its gym, located at 701 Good Hope St. in Cape Girardeau, for the event, which is scheduled to be held from 1 to 4 p.m.

"I'm hoping that I've covered every nonprofit that's in town, but if there's somebody else out there that hasn't been asked, they can reach out to me and I will make sure that they get on the list," Hotop said. "I'd like to get everyone signed up before Christmas."

Hotop said organizations such as Voices for Children, which only has two full-time employees, could not operate without volunteers.

"Our volunteers advocate for children in the foster care system," Hotop said. "They visit with the kids, get to know them, and write reports on how they are doing. The reports are used in the court hearings, which hopefully result in reunification with the parents. We can cover more kids if we have more volunteers."

Hotop said Voices for Children currently has about 30 volunteers, but he would love to add another 20 or 25.

When it comes to the kind of people he is looking for, Hotop said any organization will have its own criteria when it comes to volunteers, in terms of time commitments and skills needed, but what it mostly comes down to is finding people with a passion to help others.

"We've got teachers and medical professionals and salespeople and retired people and, you know, they're just from all different walks of life," Hotop said. "They just like to help."

Any organization that would like to participate in the volunteer fair may contact Hotop at mhotop@voicesforchildrensemo.org.