Volunteer Center is a one-stop online platform to connect the hand-raisers in our region with the agencies that so desperately need their time, talents, and advocacy. Local agencies can promote their volunteer needs, events, and mission, and utilize Volunteer Center for their volunteer management. Volunteers can utilize Volunteer Center to discover local agencies, worthwhile needs from those agencies, as well as events. Volunteers are provided a volunteerism resume that captures all of the needs they respond to, as well as the value of their time spent volunteering.

Volunteer Center provides background checks to the local agencies at no cost, trains agencies on using the platform, and brings together agencies frequently for initiatives, such as our annual Day of Caring, where we actively recruit large numbers of volunteers, families, and companies to band together to do good works collectively.

Volunteer Center has recruited nearly 1,800 volunteers in less than three years through the power of standing united.

So, what does this change mean?

For starters, a volunteer platform has been established for Charlevoix and Emmet counties to connect volunteers with agencies that need help. This means less operational overhead, as some of the administrative tasks are rolled into the existing ones at UWNWMI. Families can now benefit from regional programs that are already a part of UWNWMI, such as Bright by Text and 211, at no added cost to the organization.

Where will the dollars go?

Donations raised in the Charlevoix and Emmet region will be reinvested in those two counties. The decisions regarding where those funds will be allocated will be made by an advisory board comprised of residents of these two counties. The advisory board will be guided by reports from 211, an information and referral line funded by United Way, and connections to agencies serving the most vulnerable in our region.