You might be familiar with a television show from 1980s, or it’s recent reboot, MacGyver. Both feature a master problem solver who quickly tackles sudden challenges using everyday objects.
Our local non-profit organizations operate a lot like MacGyver, on a good day. You must do a lot with a little (and often improvise) when you help people through a crisis on a shoestring budget. While MacGyver used paper clips and gum, non-profits rely on volunteers.
Only, COVID-19 changes the rules.
Most non-profits have seen community needs skyrocket while the number of hands they have to help nose-dive. The average age of most weekly volunteers puts them in the “at-risk” category. Those who can help add to numbers gathered. Luckily, most non-profits have more than paper clips to tackle this challenge!
When many individuals and families found themselves out of work, they really needed food. Without volunteers, and sometimes with as little as three or four on staff, food pantries had to innovate to serve more people in a day than usual. Without any interruption of service, limited numbers of board members – who were healthy enough – took shifts to help. Employees of other non-profit organizations that had to shut down immediately, like Paducah Day Nursery, Oscar Cross Boys & Girls Club, and the McCracken County Public Library stepped up to fill in gaps.
Community members who could not volunteer in person bought extra items and donated them through contactless means. Several different mask-makers made sure non-profits had something to protect those who could serve.
Many organizations are still closed or limited to in-person, in-house helping. But no challenge is unmet in our community! The Paducah-McCracken County Senior Citizen Center, which normally hosts Meals-on-Wheels volunteer drivers, recruited new volunteers to deliver additional meals to at-risk seniors unable to go to the grocery store. The staff has also developed a curbside pick-up option run by volunteers; something other organizations are also implementing to exchange food and supplies.
Even the United Way of Paducah-McCracken County had to think out of the box when it came to delivering our newly updated Community Resource Guides! With helping organizations working remotely or busy working through new needs the pandemic creates, representatives were unavailable to pick up guides to help direct others. Luckily, a Scouting USA family volunteered to delivery bundles of these brochures all over town. Our scout helper had to be creative to avoid a direct hand-off, too!
The COVID-19 challenge is on-going, but there are new, innovative ways you can help our community overcome it! If you have a favorite organization, give the staff a call – or send them a message through social media – to see how you might creatively provide a volunteer service. The United Way of Paducah-McCracken County can also provide inspiration and direction. Your time and talents are more helpful than anything MacGyver could have pulled off with a paper clip!
Anne Bidwell is the Community Impact Manager at the United Way of Paducah-McCracken County. She discusses new volunteer opportunities on the McCracken County Public Library’s Virtual McLib Live Wednesday, July 22, 3-4 PM. For more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/719307862157879/
