Melissa Mackey spent her Tuesday at the Lawrence Public Library, trying to find a little help for the Girl Scouts.

“Who’s not ideal?” asked Mackey, a membership manager for the Girl Scouts. “Anybody can be a Girl Scout – even my husband!”

The Girl Scouts were among more than 30 organizations at the library offering brochures and freebies in an effort to attract more volunteers to keep their agencies running.

“The goal is to get the word out about these agencies,” said Maria Butler, the library’s community relations director.

The library and the United Way’s Roger Hill Volunteer Center coordinated the event, using the center’s database of organizations to get the word out last fall.

Margaret Perkins-McGuinness of the Roger Hill Center said the event was created to coincide with National Volunteer Week, which lasts through this weekend.

“We can connect people with 138 local agencies,” she said.

Many of the organizations represented Tuesday need specialized help – the Girl Scouts not included.

Mary Beth Petr, chair of Lawrence Hidden Valley Inc., foreground left, visits with Debbie Dominick, resource specialist with KVC Behavioral HealthCare, right, at the volunteer information fair at the Lawrence Public Library. People interested in volunteering in the community were able to visit with and pick up information from numerous charitable organizations at the fair Tuesday.

Michael Caron, program director for the Douglas County Jail, said the jail needs volunteers who are well-trained and experienced in their respective fields. This typically means retired professionals or graduate students end up leading classes in anger management, creative writing or yoga.

“We need highly skilled volunteers,” Caron said. Most inmates will return to the community, he said, where they’ll need skills to both work and cope with life.

Megan Macomber helped at the GaDuGi Safe Center table, looking for volunteer advocates to assist victims of sexual assault.

It’s a job not everyone can handle, Macomber said, and it’s one that requires extensive training and dedication.

“You have to be there,” she said. “There’s definitely a commitment involved.”

All of the organizations at the fair, from Community Living Opportunities to the Douglas County AIDS Project, require time and effort from volunteers.

“Anything they want to contribute volunteerwise,” CLO’s Yolanda Hargett said, “we’re interested.”