Agency: Roger Hill Volunteer Center

Contact: Rula Andriessen or Margaret Perkins-McGuinness 865-5030

The 2006 Read Across America after-school reading event on March 2 needs volunteers. Read Across America engages adults in encouraging children to read by sharing storybooks together. Volunteers will read stories to children, help the children read and discuss the stories. The Why Wait to Read? Giving Library at the Roger Hill Volunteer Center will sponsor the event at local after-school program sites. For more information or to register as a volunteer, contact Rula Andriessen or Margaret Perkins-McGuinness by phone at 865-5030 or by e-mail at info@rhvc.org.

Immediate volunteer needs

â A Worldwide Volunteer and Alternative Career Fair will be from noon to 4 p.m. Thursday in the Kansas Union, fourth floor lobby. Representatives from Peace Corps, Teach for America, Ecumenical Christian Ministries, AIESEC, Roger Hill Volunteer Center and the Kansas University Center For Community Outreach will share information with prospective volunteers about how to volunteer locally, nationally and internationally. For more information contact Erin Urich at the Roger Hill Volunteer Center, 865-5030 or by e-mail at volunteer@rhvc.org.

â Big Brothers Big Sisters seeks volunteers for a variety of positions. Volunteers are needed to bowl in the annual Bowl for Kids’ Sake fund-raising event. Volunteers must secure a minimum of $125 in pledges from donors throughout February and then bowl on one of the following dates: Feb. 25, March 3 or March 5. Big Brothers Big Sisters is also looking for volunteers who want to help make a difference in the life of a child. Volunteers spend anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours each week with a child. This opportunity is available to individuals, couples and families. Volunteers need to be at least 16 years of age, pass background checks, go through a screening interview and be willing to commit to the program for a minimum of one year. Big Brothers Big Sisters is also looking for individual advocates for such duties as grant writing, Web page upkeep, IT assistance, clerical work, speaker’s bureau, board committee, and for publication and activity assistance. To learn about any of these opportunities, contact Rosie Robertson with Big Brothers Big Sisters at 843-7359.

â The Lawrence Community Shelter Drop-In Store is in need of volunteers to staff the shop, as well as donations of personal hygiene products, snacks, clothing and other necessities for purchase with drop-in dollars. To make a donation or volunteer, contact the Lawrence Community Shelter at 832-8864 or in person at 214 W. 10th St.

â Lawrence Meals on Wheels seeks volunteer drivers to assist with meal delivery. The program provides hot nutritious meals to the homebound elderly and/or disabled people residing in Lawrence. Positions are available each day of the week to pick up and deliver meals; delivery takes about 45 minutes. For more information, call Kim Culliss at 979-1440.

â The Kansas Audio-Reader Network is a reading and information service for blind, visually impaired and print disabled individuals in Kansas and western Missouri. Audio Reader needs volunteer readers between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. most days of the week. Audio Reader is also in need of a donated storage space to house items that are donated for its annual fundraiser, For Your Ears Only. The space must be 800 square feet, climate-controlled and on a first floor or accessible by elevator. To volunteer or offer space, contact Jennifer Nigro at 864-4604 or jnigro@ku.edu.