Court updating list of non-profits willing to support offenders’ community service hours

— from Mellissa Derksema, San Juan County District Court —

The courts of San Juan County are updating and improving their community service program. In many cases, criminal defendants have the opportunity to volunteer at non-profit organizations to work off court fees or in lieu of imposed jail time. To allow this, the courts must be able to confirm an organization’s non-profit status and verify the organization’s willingness to supervise court participants’ community service hours.

Now is the perfect time to update the courts’ directory of San Juan County (all islands!) non-profit organizations that want or need court volunteers to support their programs. With the recent pandemic crisis and potential economic fallout, having multiple opportunities to volunteer will mutually benefit local organizations and court participants.

The San Juan County Adult Probation Office maintains a list of pre-approved local non-profit organizations that are willing to accept volunteers as ordered by the courts to work off court fees or imposed jail time. The obligation of the non-profit is to provide supervision and written verification that the volunteer performed work with their organization. L&I insurance is paid by San Juan County for court participant volunteers.

If you have any concerns, questions or wish to be in the community service directory for the courts, please contact Community Service Coordinator Brad Fincher at bradf@sanjuanco.com or (360) 378-8208.

To be included in our directory, we will need you to provide: the name of the organization; contact information (including email or fax); main contact person; and the 501(c)(3) identification number.