Palisadians Gear Up for Volunteer Week

A planning meeting for Palisades Volunteer Week, a community-wide week of caring, April 23 to 30, will be held on March 30, 7 p.m. at the Palisades Malibu YMCA, 821 Via de la Paz. The second annual Palisades Volunteer Week is designed to encourage hands-on volunteering by Palisadians. Volunteer opportunities are being organized for a variety of nonprofits, including ACCESS Books, Westside Food Bank, Meals on Wheels, Heal the Bay, OPCC, Daybreak, Turning Point Transitional Housing, Special Olympics, Chrysalis, St. Joseph Center, USA Tennis, Venice Animal Allies, Venice Family Clinic, and Share Our Strength. Volunteers are needed to help refurbish a school library and landscape a school courtyard as well as entertain at some local retirement homes and style hair of Chrysalis clients who are going on job interviews. In addition, volunteers are needed to serve food to people who are homeless, sort food at the Westside Food Bank, run a bake sale for charity, deliver for Meals on Wheels, help maintain a local trail, mentor Chrysalis clients, tutor, design and paint a mural, help with a sports clinic, walk animals, donate toiletries, food, children’s books, eyeglasses, tennis racquets, and knit a cap for a newborn. The Palisades Hunger Walk, benefiting CROP, and the American Cancer Society Relay for Life will take place the first weekend. The Palisades-Malibu YMCA will be the headquarters for the week of caring. Volunteers will be able to sort and bag toiletries for homeless men, women and children, and sort donated children’s books. Palisadians are encouraged to volunteer with their school, church, temple, business associates and friends. This is a great way for students to perform community service and for families to show that they believe in it. The first Palisades Volunteer Week, held last May, involved over 200 volunteers and over 1,000 volunteer hours. One participant in that week said to Marie Steckmest, coordinator, that it was so nice to be able to do something one-on-one to help someone instead of going to an event and donating money. Volunteer activities and a sign-up form are listed at PalisadesCares.org. For further information, call Marie Steckmest at 459-1614 or e-mail info@palisadescares.org.