Volunteer Kalamazoo may no longer be a standalone nonprofit organization -- it closed last year -- but its work matching volunteers with community needs lives on. It's now a program of Kalamazoo's Gryphon Place crisis center.
And one big way officials say that that program has, and will continue to, let individuals learn about service opportunities is through Find Your Cause, a volunteer fair.
The event is coming up on Tuesday, June 27 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation in downtown Kalamazoo, which is sponsoring the event with the reformed Volunteer Kalamazoo.
On today's WestSouthwest, event organizers Jenna Touchette, Volunteer Center Manager of Volunteer Kalamazoo at Gryphon Place, and Raven Britt, a development officer at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, talk to WMUK's Earlene McMichael about Find Your Cause that has been held several times before (click on the icon above to hear the interview). They say representatives from 16 nonprofit organizations are expected.
Confirmed are the Air Zoo, Cheff Therapeutic Riding Center, Community Services Charity, Douglass Community Association, Goodwill Industries of Southwest Michigan, Gryphon Place, Hospice Care of Southwest Michigan, Kalamazoo Literacy Council, and the Kalamazoo Nature Center, officials say.
Other groups are Kalamazoo Valley Habitat for Humanity, Mothers of Hope, Outfront of Kalamazoo, Senior Services of Southwest Michigan, Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy, Urban Alliance Inc., and the Kalamazoo YWCA.
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IF YOU GO
- What: Find Your Cause, a family-friendly volunteer fair showcasing 16 nonprofit organizations.
- When: 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 27.
- Where: Kalamazoo Community Foundation, 402 E. Michigan Ave., downtown Kalamazoo.
- Cost: Free. Open to the public.
- Worth knowing: Food and games. Catering by The Organic Gypsy food truck.
- RSVPs: Encouraged, not required, so walk-ins are permitted. Call the Kalamazoo Community Foundation at (269) 381-4416, or visit its Facebook page.