Volunteering Made Easy
A new website, www.volunteer4antioch.com, is online, which will help Antioch in these tough budgetary times. At the same time it builds community cohesiveness and spreads the joy of helping others.
The beauty is that the opportunities, more than 50 in number, are all in Antioch’s own backyard. Just click on local opportunities and alphabetically you will see the organization, their web link, contact person, phone,-e-mail and a bit about the group’s work and volunteer needs.
The site founder, Walter Ruehlig, said that this project had been a “longstanding desire of mine. I couldn’t put it off any more, given the coupling factors of severe city cutbacks and the pressing need to keep our youth productively engaged.” Ruehlig, an AUSD Trustee, is currently exploring the idea of mandatory volunteering as part of high school graduation.
After combing through the newspaper, Internet, Yellow Pages and city bulletins for leads and then calling the respective organizations, Ruehlig turned over his data to Sharon Fraser, a computer teacher at Deer Valley High School who got her computer club to design the site.
Design credit goes to Todd Sweeney, graphics to Abigail Cecilio, photography to Favian Orozon and programming to John Chandler. Community activist and webmaster Brittney Gougeon volunteered to host the site.
