From its inception, The Urban Ministry Center has been run primarily by volunteers. Our belief is that compassionate volunteers bring an emotional and spiritual vitality to their work that makes them tremendously effective in caring for our neighbors. Individuals and groups can join our community of caring!

How you can make a difference

The following is a list of some of our volunteer opportunities, both for individuals and small groups. Individual work can be scheduled weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.

New Volunteer Orientation sessions (one hour) are scheduled once or twice a month — Call for dates. For more information, to obtain the date of the next Orientation session or to arrange for a group visit, please contact:

Jo Rizer or Barbara Conrad, Directors of Volunteer Ministries, by email at volunteer@urbanministrycenter.org or by phone 704-926-0610 or 704-347-0278 ext.210.

• Front Desk Volunteers

Our volunteers who oversee the activities at the front desk help set the tone for the Center. They welcome our neighbors and sign them up for the various services we offer and manage the mailbox system.

Monday-Friday, mornings 8:20-12; and afternoons, 12:00-4:30

• Telephone Reception

Volunteers will answer outside calls while managing the flow of telephone usage for our neighbors (helping with long distance calls, directory assistance, etc.). They will also help with mail and other paperwork as time allows, while monitoring the flow of traffic in the upstairs hall.

Monday — Friday, mornings 8:20-12:00; and afternoons 1:20-4:30

• Counselors

Our counseling ministry involves more in-depth, one-on-one contact with our neighbors, who come to our counselors with requests for transportation to a new job, assistance with obtaining identification, food referrals, medications, and housing.

Monday — Friday mornings 8:30-12:00; and afternoons 1:30-4:30

• Van Driver

The UMC offers a van service on Tursday and Thursday mornings to assist neighbors in transporting neighbors to the Department of Social services, Social Security, Unemployment Office, Medical facilities, etc. On Wednesday mornings they take SABER participants to the store. On Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, they take neighbors to the medical clinic. As a van driver, volunteers have a unique opportunity to interact with our neighbors while providing tangible, much-needed assistance.

Tuesday and Thursday, 9:00-12:00; Wednesday (SABER) 10-12:00; Wednesday and Thursday, 2:00-3:00

• Soup Kitchen Volunteers

Since 1979, St. Peter’s Soup Kitchen has been serving a nutritious meal to all who come. Now housed at Urban Ministry Center, the soup kitchen serves a nourishing meal seven days a week, 365 days a year. Our regularly scheduled kitchen volunteers do it all, from preparation and serving to clean-up. To volunteer in this capacity one can join the Saturday or Sunday teams as a helper (we can take up to two or three extra helpers if scheduled ahead of time. Note that if the kitchen is crowded on the day a helper is scheduled, there is plenty of work to do at the front mail desk.

Mornings 9:45-12:30

Drink Groups (5-10 people) are needed to provide and serve a cold drink (lemonade, tea, punch) to 300 guests, especially on weekdays. This is a great opportunity for work groups, neighborhood friends, youth club, book club or congregational group.

Mornings (especially M-F) 10:45-12:30

• Room in the Inn Reception (December to March only)

Throughout the winter months, we provide nightly shelter through our Room in the Inn program. Each afternoon, over one hundred women, children and men come to the Center to check in for this overnight program. Our volunteers assist staff in welcoming and signing up these people, and area congregations and colleges arrive to transport 12-14 people to their facility for the night.

Seven days a week, 4:15-6:30 pm

• Garden and Landscape Projects

Work with neighbors in our organic food garden, and environmentally-friendly landscape and grounds — we are not big fans of chemical dependency, and that goes for our garden and landscape as well. Emphasis on outdoor, hands-on work. You have many options: Large groups, often on Saturday mornings, help accomplish big tasks and clean-up. Weekly crews can help with routine maintenance, following ecological guidelines — it is a good way to learn about the new "green" landscaping. Individuals and small groups can become "regulars" who come on a weekly or monthly basis to work with neighbors in the garden, or simply come to lend a hand when they can. Scout projects are possible, along with community service opportunities for CPCC and CMS horticulture students, Master Gardener and Master Composter volunteers, and service learning programs.For artists, opportunities abound for imaginative landscape art using found objects and urban materials, and involving ArtWorks artists.

Main season - March through November, with the biggest needs in mid-April, mid/late summer, and late fall. Saturday mornings by previous arrangement with volunteer coordinators; or by arrangement on other days of the week.

Contact Don Boekelheide, 704-926-0605 or 704-347-0278 ext.245. Please also check in with Barbara and Jo, 704-926-0610 or 704-347-0278 ext.210, so they can help arrange a tour and speaker during your group's first garden visit. To see what we do in the garden, visit our garden blog.

• CommunityWorks 945 Assistants

Work with neighbors on a myriad of projects: art, soccer practice, yoga, photography, creative writing, GED tutoring, (or an idea of your own creation).

Contact Lawrence Cann (Extention 218) or Rob Cann (Extention 233), 704/347-0278

Monday-Saturday with flexible hours

Education and Advocacy Partner

Facilitate a "Faces of Homelessness Panel/Talk" on or off-site for a congregation/school group. Do advocacy work with Homeless Helping Homeless or participate in Servant Leadership School.

• Small Group Volunteer Opportunities

Call to schedule a project that fits your group: Participate in a Tour and Homelessness Education Session or "Faces of Homelessness talk" with a neighbor who has experienced homelessness. Prepare and Serve Drinks for the Soup Kitchen. Organize a Donation Drive (toiletries, laundry items, canned food, home-made sandwiches or snacks, soccer team items, dental kits, reading glasses, etc.). Work with Community Works or Homeless Helping Homeless. Host a Faces of Homelessness Talk at your organization’s location.

• Create your own volunteer opportunity

Consider your individual gifts and talents to create an opportunity you feel called to do.