Nonprofits navigating a new world of volunteering during a pandemic; where to volunteer now.

It is the “strange conundrum” of our time, says United Way Monterey County President and CEO Katy Castagna. There are plenty of people who are idle because of layoffs and closings due to Covid-19, but not necessarily enough volunteer jobs to keep them busy.

That’s not to say there aren’t immediate volunteer needs—because there are—but a little over a week into Monterey County's shelter-in-place order, nonprofit organizations are in a transition period, navigating a new volunteering landscape.

The immediate needs come from nonprofits that lost their volunteer force of retired people over age 60, who are considered at a high risk for being infected by Covid-19. Organizations that help the homeless or provide food for vulnerable populations are actively seeking healthy people between the ages of 18-65 to remain safely involved to help fill in the gaps.

Tish Sammon, executive director of the volunteer opportunity clearinghouse Community Builders For Monterey County, says their website is seeing increased interest in the opportunities posted there for those organizations that need volunteers as soon as possible. (See list below.)

Nonprofits that rely on volunteers have implemented protocols to ensure social distancing between people, maintaining at least 6 feet apart to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Community Builders is “ramping up,” Sammon says, identifying new volunteer needs as they arise, redirecting people to new opportunities when existing ones fill up, as well as transitioning to other models of volunteering, in particular in the virtual space. She's also open to hearing from nonprofits that need help.

“We’re all just trying to figure this out,” Sammon says.

Her own organization could use help from volunteers working remotely to do things like process information as it comes in. Sammon also envisions volunteers doing other types of remote work like doing research or performing check-in calls with seniors. Some of it could be non-coronavirus-related, but helpful to nonprofits—it would give people something to do while stuck at home, she says.

United Way is the designated agency that staffs the county’s Emergency Volunteer Center, established to quickly deploy volunteers in crisis situations. Monterey County government officials have not chosen to activate the EVC, says Castagna, so for now United Way has no jobs to give volunteers already in the queue.

The organization is experimenting with training volunteers to answer 211 calls—the community phone service that directs members of the community to services and resources. It’s a challenge to train up volunteers in a short amount of time for what is a complex task, Castagna says.

Informal volunteering is cropping up on the neighborhood social networking platform nextdoor.com and elsewhere, Castagna adds. Neighbors are reaching out and offering to pick up groceries for others or check in with vulnerable neighbors.

“Just from a community-building standpoint I think it’s positive that we’re building new bonds with our neighbors,” Castagna says.

At the same time, she cautions against people letting their guard down and giving out personal information to people and organizations they aren’t familiar with.

Volunteer Opportunities

For adults under age 65 who are healthy enough to volunteer, a good place to start is Community Builders For Monterey County: combuildersmc.org

Currently on the Community Builders' Covid-19 page:

• Gathering for Women, Monterey
• Dorothy’s Place, Salinas
• Community Homeless Solutions, various locations
• Food Bank For Monterey County, Salinas
• American Red Cross Blood Drive, various locations

Other places to help (click on the name for link to website):

• The Salvation Army
• Meals on Wheels Monterey Peninsula
• Meals on Wheels Salinas Valley