How You Can Help: Giving Time

Become a mentor | Become a foster parent | Become a home provider
Serve in other valuable support roles

Become a mentor. Young people need positive role models in their lives. Wedgwood needs volunteers for two mentoring programs:

The Wedgwood Mentoring Program gives community volunteers an opportunity to serve as a friend and positive role model for the youth in our care. Mentors are asked to build a supportive one-on-one relationship with an adolescent (ages 12-17) by spending one to two hours per week with the individual for a six- to nine-month time period.

Detailed Mentor Description (pdf)
Volunteer Application (pdf)

For more information, please contact Molly Guillaume or Joy Betten Volunteer Coordinators, at 616.831.5565.

Lighthouse Academy mentors. A mentor serves as a support person for an assigned student in enrolled in Lighthouse Academy. The mentor will maintain relationship with the student throughout his or her school enrollment, connecting at least once weekly. They are involved in the following aspects of the student’s life: academic, career, spiritual, and personal/social. They may assist the student in a variety of ways including tutoring, seeking employment, exploring college and career options, and by spending quality time together in a positive mentoring relationship. With the Lighthouse staff, mentors help students and their families create Student Learning Plans throughout the year and to assess progress toward the goals set in those plans.

For more information, please contact Heidi Cate at 616.241.1822
 
(return to top of page)

Become a foster parent. We also need adults who can provide a positive family environment via our Foster Care program.

Foster parents receive the support they need through weekly contact with a Wedgwood case manager. In addition, each licensed home can also receive reimbursement, training and respite care.

For more information, please contact Dawn Harvey at 616.831.5674.

(return to top of page)

Become a home provider. We also need adults willing to open their home and provide room and board for youth in our Supervised Community Living program. The relationship between a home provider and a youth is structured like landlord/tenant relationship – but it often grows to be much more significant. Stays typically last from three months to one year.

Wedgwood maintains weekly contact and provides orientation, training and financial support for home providers. Formal licensing in not required, but careful screening is part of the process.

For more information, please contact Dawn Harvey at 616.831.5674.

(return to top of page)

Serve in other valuable support roles. Wedgwood has an ongoing need for a variety of volunteer positions, including:

• Church Family – Take a specific client to your home church service/activities. Suggested time commitment: two times (minimum) per month for six months.
• Activity Assistant –- Assist an activity therapist in leading planned activities and teaching personal skill to clients (e.g., arts and crafts, music).
• Chaplain’s Assistant – Work under the direction of the chaplain to lead one-to-one or small group Bible studies and participate in on-campus worship services. Suggested time commitment: one to two hours per week on a bi-weekly basis. Length of commitment may vary, based upon need.
• Tutor – Assist clients in completing homework assignments. Suggested time commitment: one hour per week (minimum).
• Maintenance Assistant – Perform general maintenance duties as needed in and around the facilities.
• Clerical Assistant – Provide support to a variety of departments (e.g., filing, copying, collating). Regular assistance needed for two to three hours per week or with project assistance during peak periods.
• Food Service Assistant – Assist clients in evening meal preparation and teach basic cooking skills. Suggested time commitment: twice a month.
• Transporter – Be available on an on-call or regular basis to transport clients to and/or from school, to their home and also to medical appointments.
• Teens On Track – Serve as a tutor, mentor or group assistant in our inner city ministries. Once a week (typically 4-6 PM or one evening). Locations: Eastern Avenue CRC (one boys' club), Roosevelt Park Ministries (one boys' club), Lee Street CRC/|Roosevelt Park Ministries (one girls' club), Lighthouse Academy (one group), Kentwood Community Church (one girls' club), Bethel Abundant Life Center (one girls' club), Alger Middle --coming spring 2008--(girls' club "Girls on the Run".)
  

Volunteer Application (pdf)

(return to top of page)