Volunteer of the Week | Volunteer Center Online Form |

Volunteer Opportunities Handbook | Youth Handbook

Volunteers Make a Strong Community

The Heart of Arkansas United Way doesn't just need your financial support. Your time, effort, expertise and energy can be put to good use by volunteering at one of our agencies or many other organizations.

Our Volunteer Center has more than 190 agencies in Pulaski County that each have opportunities for volunteer work. Our center acts as a clearinghouse for all these opportunities by helping match your area of interest or expertise with the need of individual agencies. Opportunities exist for both youth and adults. Whether your talent is tutoring students, assisting seniors, working with animals, cleaning our environment or just providing a helping hand, we have these and many other opportunities available to you. Find a volunteer opportunity that fits your interest, and then go out and make a difference in your community. A community with many volunteers equals a community where people want to live and work.

"Two kinds of gratitude: the sudden kind we feel for what we take; the larger kind we feel for what we give." Edwin A. Robinson (1869-1935)

Nonprofit Training Workshops

In the spring of each year, the Volunteer Center conducts workshops for nonprofit agencies through the Management Assistance Program (MAP). Contact Jo Lynn Short at 376-4567 or jshort@heartaruw.org for more information. Download this year's training brochure.

Day of Caring

United Way can help your organization or business organize a Day of Caring. A Day of Caring gives your employees the opportunity to complete a day-long volunteer project for a local nonprofit. Past projects have included landscaping a garden, painting a room, building wheelchair ramps, or repairing playground equipment. This is a great opportunity for your organization to get involved in the community. Volunteering groups may need to assist with project costs. For more information, contact Jo Lynn Short at 376-4567 or jshort@heartaruw.org

Volunteer of The Week

Our "Volunteer of the Week" for the week of  October 8th, 2007 is Jim Whitmer.

Mr. Whitmer has been volunteering with  Quapaw Area Council, Boy Scouts of America for 45 years.

Jim serves year-round as an Assistant Council Commissioner giving leadership to volunteers in 33 counties.  Jim also organizes the annual training event called the College of Commissioner Science, a one-day advanced training program that involves over 100 volunteers.

Mr. Whitmer helps to recruit and train volunteers and inspires others to do more with his example of hard work.  His efforts over the past 20 years have provided more and better volunteers to carry out the mission of the boy Scouts.

Jim's hard work has brought hundreds of new volunteers into scouting, all of whom have provided service to young people and their families, making better citizens of those he comes in contact with.  The Boy Scouts are thankful for the thousands of hours of community service Mr. Whitmer has given to Pulaski County and other counties.

Thank you, Jim Whitmer!  KSSN, Discount Trophies and Eggland's Best "Volunteer of the Week".

 For information about volunteer opportunities, contact the Volunteer Center at the Heart of Arkansas United Way – 376-4567

 The Volunteer Center partners with KSSN 96, Discount Trophies, and Eggland’s Best for the Volunteer of the Week program to recognize those volunteers who go above and beyond. Each week, KSSN announces the Volunteer of the Week, and Discount Trophies provides a plaque to the winner on behalf of the nominating agency.