Person-to-Person Volunteering Person-to-Person provides a diverse and supportive working environment. There are many ways to volunteer including: • Reception Area • Clothing Center • Food Pantry • Furniture Pick-up and Delivery • Baby Basics - Assemble layette kits including bibs, bottles, clothes etc. for newborns and deliver them to local hospitals. • Camperships: This program provides more than 600 elementary and middle school children with a place to go in the summer. Volunteers are needed to register campers. Local summer day camps provide the opportunity to build life skills and keep children safe from harm. A two-hour training session and minimum two-hour time commitment working at Camp Registration in the spring. • Holiday: Three holiday programs ensure clients have a happier season. Be A Santa, the Dove Program and the Toy Store all provide many opportunities to get involved. • Food Drives • Volunteer Council and more! For our younger volunteers: The Person-to-Person Youth Group Kid-to-Kid Reception Area: The reception area is our “situation room” where clients can take a break from the stresses beyond our doors and are received as guests. In this clean cheerful place, we offer them coffee and tea as well as cookies and often loaves of bread or other foods to take home as well as a warm place to rest while waiting to meet with a case worker, pick up food, or go down to the clothing center where they can shop for clean almost-new clothing, linens and household goods. Telephones and computers are supplied to volunteers where files can be looked up and appointments confirmed. Appointments are also made for furniture pick up and delivery and interconnected services to other agencies are offered if we cannot help. Our teams of reception volunteers communicate with not only clients but with donors, other volunteers and social services agencies. They coordinate the many needs of the office, and a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish or French is a big plus! Time requirements are: 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday 12:30 – 4:00 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. Thursday to work with the Person-to-Person Youth Group Clothing Center: The clothing center provides new and used clothing in good condition to anyone from the area who schedules an appointment. Volunteers greet donors and clients in the clothing center, issue receipts to donors, and help scheduled clients select items during their visits. Volunteers also sort and hang clothing that comes in and help maintain organization in the clothing center. Furniture: Person-to-Person accepts donations of twin and double beds, kitchen tables and chairs, dressers and cribs. Our team of “Van Men” deliver and pick up furniture several days a week and our Youth Group delivers on Saturdays. Time requirements are: One half day per week for the Van Men team and two hours a week to match donations with requests. Holiday Programs The Dove Program: White and green Person-to-Person Doves hang from Christmas trees in 18 area churches beginning the Sunday after Thanksgiving. White Doves are for providing a family with food and green doves are for providing a needy family with financial assistance or a scholarship. Recipients are referred by social service agencies and caseworkers oversee the program. Volunteers make up the Doves, listing the number of family members and ages of children and a list of items for the gift box. The Toy Store: A Christmas treat to provide our parent clients, with whom we’ve worked regularly over the year, the opportunity to choose one new toy and book for each of their children for Christmas. Volunteers are “elves” who help the parents shop, wrap the gifts, or entertain the client’s children at the craft table while the parents shop. The Time commitment is a 3-hour shift during one of the 3 days the store is open in December as well as setting up and taking down the “store”. Co-chairs of the program work during the fall ordering toys and books and setting schedules. Be A Santa: This program enables businesses in the community to provide their employees an easy and direct way to help others during the holidays through a gift program. Volunteers contact participating companies, prepare and distribute tags indicating a specific new item or cash donation, and sort the gifts received for clients in the Person-to-Person community. The items requested include toys, children’s books, baby items, men’s women’s and children’s clothing, and household items. Inventory and maintenance of the Be A Santa shed is an integral part of the volunteer effort. The time commitment is: Meeting at the discretion of the co-chairs during the months from October to December. Inventory takes place mid-December and as needed. Other seasonal opportunities to volunteer arise frequently and volunteering on an event by event basis is a good way to get to know us and allow us to get to know you. Please check our events calendar for more information. Kid-to-Kid for Person-to-Person: Kid-to-Kid for Person-to-Person is a group of middle-school aged youth who, along with their parents, meet at the agency on Friday afternoons and provide support for many of the agency's programs. With adult supervision they also perform outreach in the community and hold fundraising activities including various kinds of drives, car washes and other events. Contact Judy Kilmartin at judykilmartin@p2pdarien.org, Holly Kelly at holly@home-darien.com, or Yvette Van Dijk at eenkema@optonline.net The Person-to-Person Youth Group: The Person-to-Person Youth Group is a team of well-trained high school students from Darien, Stamford and New Canaan. They fundraise and provide assistance at the agency in the food pantry, clothing center, and furniture program, and oversee a car seat program, providing new and gently used car seats to families with small children and infants. The Youth Group operates the agency on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings, except in August when it does not open during those times. Contact Judy Kilmartin at judykilmartin@p2pdarien.org, Celeste Marsh at paintedbread@yahoo.com, or Sandee Kirchoff at sandave@optonline.net. For questions about any aspect of volunteering, or for more information, contact Judy Kilmartin at judykilmartin@p2pdarien.org or call (203) 656-4631, extension 152.