Volunteer Opportunities in December
Shawn Kochhar, staff writer
In November, students met for the PVCC Volunteer Club to discuss upcoming events that they could volunteer for, led by Assistant Professor of Sociology Dr. Todd Platts.
The first event was about helping with the Let There Be Light event, on Dec. 7, from 6-9 p.m. Volunteers are needed to put signs up in the Dickinson building, label exhibits, set up a lighted path, and help visiting artists set up their equipment. They also need students to help oversee certain areas of the show, which include handing out flashlights, maps and serving the food and drink
A lot of help is needed to prepare for when they turn out all the lights on campus and begin the show. The tear down takes about an hour, so students can help anywhere from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Volunteers can come and go as they please and choose any time schedule they want.
The second upcoming event that needs volunteers is a small non-profit organization run out of a woman’s house in the Charlottesville area called Santa Matters. It buys presents for children whose parents are in jail. They set up and throw a party at the Albemarle Regional Jail.
Volunteers can meet on Dec. 9 at the person’s house to wrap gifts and write tags on the gifts for the children and parents. The children’s ages range from 16 months to 18 years old.
The Volunteer Club provides gifts for guardians as well as the kids, with different types of gifts for men and women. Volunteers create invitations for the kids, and call the guardians. The party is on the Dec. 20 in the jail and runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Student volunteers can decide whether or not to dress as elves for the party. Students greet children at the door and facilitate activities such as face painting and decorating gingerbread cookies. The children can make cards using arts and craft supplies. There are also manicures for parents, and they are served a Christmas dinner with an ice cream sundae.
It is funded mostly by local donations. The woman that runs the event collects donations from friends and people that live around Charlottesville.
“My favorite part about it all is that it is always heartwarming to help out a population that a lot of people forget about,” said Dr. Platts. “Most people when thinking of Christmas, think about helping people but tend to forget about kids who have incarcerated parents. The kids did nothing to have their parents put in jail, and it’s always nice to see the smiles on the kids’ faces because they are often forgotten about.”
