A hidden treasure, Sunrise Volunteers is at work in the shadows on Orcas

||| FROM STEVE SCHAEFER, PAST PRESIDENT, ORCAS ISLAND LIONS CLUB |||

About four years or so ago, several Lions Club members were discussing club membership. One of the discussion points was, “What do members enjoy most?” And the conclusion was that they enjoy working together on things that do good. Either directly or by raising money to do good with.

Thinking further about why people that enjoy working together and doing good don’t become club members quicker, we came to recognize that many people just don’t want to join or be a member of something. So an alternative was created. Sunrise Volunteers referred to our meetings at that time being at 7 a.m., short and informal, in order to include both retired and working people.

Sunrise Volunteers is a confidential list of e-mail addresses of people that have said they have interest in helping when there is a genuine need. If someone in the community is aware of a genuine need, they e-mail a description of that need to SunriseVolunteers@OrcasLions.org. That emailed request is screened to make sure it represents a true hardship “need.” Personal information is removed and then forwarded to everyone on the Sunrise Volunteer email list.

If you are on the list and you receive such an email, you decide if you can help or not. If not, you do nothing. If you can help, you respond and are connected with the need.

So far, the results of this program include helping quite a few people with things such as:

• Assistance with moving a piece of furniture.
• Help in building a wheelchair ramp.
• Junk removal and clean up that helped a person get out from under an oppressing situation.

If you would like to be on the list, just email to SunriseVolunteers@OrcasLions.org and we will get you on the list. We don’t use the list for any other purposes or share it with anyone else.