We are excited that you are interested in volunteering at The Gathering, and we’d love for you to visit us to see if this is something that interests you! We are a memory loss respite program, where participants engage in activities and socializing while their caregivers get a break. We meet on Wednesdays from 9:30am to 1:30pm, and volunteers join us when it works for their schedule and for any amount of time, including lunch if they wish. Besides becoming a volunteer, we also welcome one-off presenters for special topics, activities or entertainment.
Please contact thegathering@whpc.org, and either The Gathering Director or the Parish Nurse will contact you to share information and see when you can visit us!
Our goal is to be in community with each other while having fun, helping families live enriching lives during this journey with dementia, while also sharing resources and opportunities that can help along the way.
How you might help at The Gathering:
- Most of the volunteers focus on keeping the participants company, helping them with activities when needed, and making sure they stay within our meeting area.
- Volunteers can help lead or assist with an activity, as needed.
- Help the Kitchen Krew prepare lunch from 10:00am – 1:00pm
- Help the Kitchen Krew clean dishes from 12:30pm – 1:00pm
- Photographer for all or part of the time from 9:30am – 1:30pm
- During The Gathering hours we could also use the help with activity set up, including rearranging chairs, setting up activities, serving extra food, collecting dishes, etc.
- Morning set up help with arranging chairs and decorating takes place from 8:00am to 9:00am.
- We would love more male volunteers, since at least half of our participants are male.
- If you are interested in helping outside of The Gathering hours, you can assist in planning The Gathering themes and activities and or administrative tasks.
- We always welcome ideas for themes, activities and speakers.
- We also encourage giving us feedback that can better help us serve our participants, making our program safe and engaging.
To get a better idea of the participant qualifications and more details about our program, including photos, refer to our homepage.
We look forward to meeting you!
Sincerely,
LuCinda Chiles & Diana Stoller