Last month, we learned how volunteers helped in the Emergency Food Pantry, Administration and in Case Management. As mentioned in the previous blog , volunteering at Martha’s Village & Kitchen reaches far and beyond just the kitchen. Although Martha’s is known for serving almost a quarter of a million meals each year, there is so much more to the village than the kitchen. Volunteers are welcome in all departments at MVK. We try our best to accommodate volunteer schedules, groups of volunteers and different ages in volunteers as well.
Let’s find out about 3 more departments at Martha’s Village & Kitchen and get a little more detail about what volunteers can help with.
Career and Education 
Sam is one of our Career and Education volunteers. While volunteering, he helps conduct mock interviews to help residents learn new skills and prepare for upcoming job interviews. Career and Education volunteers can also help staff with client testing and program progress. Sam helps maintain attendance records for each client assigned to the Career and Education classes. Finally, Sam will help answer calls and take messages in the Career Center when needed. This is a great opportunity for a volunteer to gain work experience in this field.
Children’s Services
Some of the essential opportunities when working with teachers is providing care and help with the daily needs of children. This may include: diapering, feeding, rocking, comforting, toilet training, and other similar tasks. The Children’s Service volunteer may also help teachers with the weekly assignments that are appropriate for the ages of the children in each class. In addition, all duties must be carried out while keeping the confidentiality of the children and families. 
Thrift Store
The volunteer Thrift Store Clerk will help depending on the project needs of Martha’s Village Store. This 
may include: assisting with the day to day activities, customer service, inventory, stocking merchandise, cleaning and organizing the store. Carl helps customers by answering store-related questions and complaints and notifying the manager of any concerns. At times, Carl will help with answering the store phone and take messages or refer callers to the appropriate person. In addition, Carl is on alert for shoplifters and assists with the cleanliness of the premises and notifying management of any safety or health hazards.
After 90 hours of volunteering, Martha’s Village & Kitchen can be added as a reference on a job application. We encourage anyone interested in wanting to learn a new field to volunteer with us and gain work experience. Finally, community service looks great on college applications. To find out more on how you can get involved please visit http://bit.ly/VolunteeratMVK
Stay tuned for next month’s 3 different departments.