Did You Know?

In 2008 volunteers donated 8,209 hours to ShelterCare. The caring and committed work of volunteers helps ShelterCare provide state of the art support and treatment to our clients. Volunteer work includes office support, special events, client care, fundraising, and much, much more.

Volunteer Kimberly Almeda was recently featured in the Register Guard's Volunteer Spotlight. Kim works in the office at ShelterCare's Brethren Housing facility where she answers phones, helps clients, writes the program's newsletter, provides suport for staff. Kim volunteered 280 this past year despite going to school and working full time. Kim routinely goes above and beyond the call of duty and is always willing to help out in a pinch. Her decication is truly remarkable.


In the picture above a volunteer helps fit a bicycle helmet on a young a girl that attended ShelterCare's helmet give away in September of 2007. The event was sposnored by donor to help prevent brain injuries and raise awareness of ShelterCare's Uhlhorn Program, a facility designed to serve low income adults with aquired traumatic brain injruies.

For more information about volunteering at ShelterCare please contact our Volunteer Coordinator Gene Obersinner at 541 686 1262 or via email at gobersinner@sheltercare.org

Volunteers Make It Happen

(Here at ShelterCare, we depend on the devotion of volunteers from our community. This morning, our guestblogger Gene Obersinner, ShelterCare's dedicated Volunteer Coordinator, weighs in on some of the whys and hows of volunteerism).

Why volunteer? There are many reasons...

- To step outside of yourself. Helping persons less fortunate or in need can help you be less worried about your own problems and issues.

- To help a cause greater than yourself.

- Volunteering is a way to meet new people and do new things.

- Helping others can be a healthy challenge for yourself! It allows you to step outside of your comfort zone, and learn and grow as a human being.

- Having a regular activity that helps others can be a very calming, grounding life ritual for people, one that provides meaning and zest to life. 

-Volunteering can be a way for you to express a talent or skill that brings great joy to yourself and others.

Volunteers paint our Shankle Safe Haven facility during United Way's Day of Caring, 2008

How to Get Involved:

- Go to www.unitedwaylane.org or www.volunteermatch.org and check out hundreds of wonderful volunteer opportunities in the local area. 

- Project Homeless Connect is Friday, March 6. This is an awesome one-day event that reaches out to over 1,000 homeless individuals in the Eugene/Springfield area by providing an impressive array of services and hope! Be one of over 500 volunteers to come and help make the 3rd annual PHC Lane County the best one yet!

- ShelterCare is often in need of volunteers to be companions for individual residents, to transport clients to appointments, take them to the library, help them learn how to ride the bus, etc. Feel free to check out our opportunities at one of the websites mentioned above or by contacting Gene Obersinner, Volunteer Coordinator, at 541-686-1262 or at gobersinner@sheltercare.org.