PORT ANGELES — This Saturday, City Pier will fill with a one-stop shopping event for those looking to buoy their communities.
It’s the first Volunteer Fest, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and it’s the brainchild of one eloquent volunteer: Diana Malacalza of the Dream Center in Port Angeles.
Malacalza, a member of Clallam AmeriCorps, works with homeless teenagers at the center, helping them find jobs, housing and paths toward college.
Lack of staff
Living here, she’s noticed numerous organizations — Family Planning of Clallam County, the Serenity House shelters, the Port Angeles Food Bank — needing volunteer help, but often lacking the staff or the time to get out and meet those who’d like to join them.
Hence, she hatched this festival idea, “and it just got bigger and bigger,” said Diane Charles-Murphy, another Port Angeles AmeriCorps member.
For months now, the pair has been gathering the agencies that will set up information tables on the pier, lining up live music, children’s activities, food and drink.
It’ll all come together Saturday: Family Planning, Healthy Families of Clallam County, Serenity House’s many programs, the YMCA’s Building Futures mentoring effort, First Step Family Support Center and the food bank will be among the groups offering information on what volunteers can do.
“Family Planning needs help in their clinic and with their free HIV testing,” for example, Malacalza said.
And Healthy Families, which provides support and education groups across the county, is looking to recruit a variety of volunteers.
“One of the biggest needs is covering the crisis line,” said Healthy Families operations manager Tracy Caldwell.
The phone number, 360-452-HELP (4357), is open 24 hours a day seven days a week for people affected by domestic violence or sexual assault.
Crisis line volunteers are given comprehensive training, Caldwell said.
Inspirational event
Malacalza hopes the event will inspire people who may not have thought about volunteering until now, while Charles-Murphy emphasized that its purpose is twofold.
Women, men, teens and families who need a hand can come to the pier and see the various resources available to them, she said.
It’s about “giving help, but also getting help,” Charles-Murphy added.
Charles-Murphy’s AmeriCorps assignment has taken her all over Port Angeles: from tutoring children at Hamilton and Jefferson elementary schools to working with the kids at the Serenity House’s Evergreen Village for homeless families.
She helps youngsters with homework, and just plays with them, while their parents attend life-skills classes.
As AmeriCorps volunteers, the women are paid small stipends for living expenses and must live simply.
Both have found rich rewards in their work.
“When I’m volunteering,” Malacalza said, “I feel like I’m fulfilling my purpose,” which is to help make her town a good place to live.
“You want the community to run well and people to be happy,” she said.
Volunteering with an organization such as Serenity House — which will have about seven tables set up at the festival to introduce its programs — is a way to be part of that solution.
For those who feel they don’t have enough time to volunteer, Malacalza said it comes down to priorities.
“Is my purpose in life to entertain myself or to make the world a better place?” she asked.
Music, crafts
On Saturday, along with the information tables, the Peninsula College jazz band and two other groups, Man in the Woods and Amsterjam, will provide music.
“We’ll have crafts for children, at tables run by the AmeriCorps volunteers,” added Charles-Murphy.
She and Malacalza are among the 24 AmeriCorps members working in Port Angeles and will finish their 11-month stints at the end of July.
“We’re trying to make the most of our time here,” Charles-Murphy said.
“I love Port Angeles,” added the former Orange County, Calif., resident. “It’s going to be hard to leave.”
Those who can’t make it to Saturday afternoon’s Volunteer Fest are encouraged to visit the North Olympic Volunteer Center’s website next week.
The site, www.VolunteerClallam.org, has information about volunteer opportunities in both Clallam and Jefferson counties, said volunteer center supervisor Jacques Livingston.
“We also welcome people to just give us a call,” he added. The number is 360-417-3697.
Livingston wants to create a new online community via the website to connect volunteers with the agencies that need them.
Livingston hailed Malacalza and Charles-Murphy’s work on the festival, saying the only way it could come together was with their zeal.
The event shows “the heart of AmeriCorps,” he said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.