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Similar to a matchmaking service, the Volunteer Resource Center’s goal is to match specific interests of willing volunteers with a volunteer organization involved with their interests.
As a student at CU, the VRC will personally walk you through the process of finding the right volunteer organization for you, sophomore international affairs and pre-education major Jess Laub said.
“Students who want to get involved can either email or walk in, and if we have the time we can sit down with them,” Laub, a student involved with student intake for the VRC, said. “We ask them to take an online survey and we try to match them with organizations that we know of that need volunteers and we try to fit them with the best.”
The VRC also offers other ways to find volunteer organizations to work with, junior marketing major and VRC Events Coordinator Scott Gemperline said.
“We have two volunteer fairs with online registration for Boulder organizations and student group registration,” Gemperline said. “We tend to recommend people that we work closely with through personal volunteering and an online data base with hundreds of volunteer areas in Boulder and surrounding areas.”
The VRC 15 staff members and two hired directors work to connect volunteers with volunteer organizations at CU and the Boulder community, according to the VRC website.
The goal of the organization is to attend to CU’s volunteer population needs, Gemperline said.
“Our mission is to help students on campus,” Gemperline said. “We provide them with volunteer opportunities on campus and the Boulder community. We also offer workshops mainly to freshman which talk about the benefits of volunteerism.”
Multiple opportunities are offered to students to help them get as involved as they like, including the Alternative Breaks program, he said.
“We have the Alternative Breaks program which send students to different areas around the country to different service sights during spring break,” Gemperline said.
The program gives students opportunities to travel to many different places all over the U.S. with one trip taking place over Maymester and heading to Nicaragua.
Interested freshmen have many other opportunities to get involved with the VRC, Gemperline said.
“To work, we have an intern program only for incoming freshman, it helps target a freshman population,” he said.
Also listed on the VRC website is a database offering various opportunities including the “buffalo can challenge” and “better Boulder better world.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Rachel Hersch at Rachel.hersch@colorado.edu
