By Julia Welzen, Community Engagement Coordinator
April is National Volunteer Month, and we celebrate and honor the people who give their time to their communities, non-profits, and faith-based organizations!
HEPL’s English as a New Language volunteers Deb Carrell and Kathy Drury
According to the latest Volunteering in America report from Americorps, almost 61 million Americans (about 23.2% of the population) served about 4.1 billion hours between September 2020-2021. That is a massive impact, not only benefiting the organizations they serve, but also on the volunteers themselves. Another Americorps report shows that volunteers often enjoy better physical and mental health as well as a sense of accomplishment and purpose.
HEPL Volunteer Patty Fryling
At Hamilton East Public Library, we’re fortunate to have more than 150 active volunteers, currently helping us out with a variety of assignments. Many have told us they’ve enjoyed getting to work with an organization they care about and getting to know HEPL staff. They’ve also said they feel more connected to the communities in Fishers and Noblesville.
In 2022, HEPL volunteers contributed a total of 2,049 hours through a variety of assignments, including Access Services volunteers who search for items on the shelves, English as a New Language volunteers who assist with our conversation groups, and Program Support volunteers who provide hospitality and assistance at library-sponsored programs.
We also have assignments specifically for teens. They can join the Teen Advisory Board, which helps us determine library programs and other initiatives for their age group. They can also help us keep the libraries neat by signing up for Tidying Teens, or they can submit reviews of new teen books as part of the national Teens’ Top Ten program.
If you’d like to learn more about available volunteer assignments at Hamilton East Public Library or fill out an application, visit our volunteering page or email volunteer@hamiltoneastpl.org for more information. Some fully-staffed assignments may not be available on our application right now, but we do post all available volunteer openings on our volunteer page. We may have a few new ones coming soon!
Looking for other organizations to help out in your community? Try these sites for more ideas on ways you can volunteer locally: