Volunteers list grows at center

Kris Hill

Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2000 | 10:04 a.m.

It has been a year of growth for the Volunteer Center of Southern Nevada.

The Volunteer Center boasted in its recently released 1999-2000 annual report that it has compiled a database of more than 1,000 volunteers.

The organization has also implemented two background-check programs to help agencies screen volunteers who work with vulnerable people, the report said.

In 1997 the center was just a dream for a group of Las Vegans attending the Summit on America's Future. By early 1999 it had received the IRS stamp of approval as a nonprofit organization.

In the past year the center has doubled its number of volunteers, Fran Smith, the center's executive director, said. It is now in its second full year of operation.

This large pool of volunteers has made it possible for the center to fill almost every agency request for help, the report said.

In addition, the report describes other areas of growth for the center, including increased public awareness through advertising and creating partnerships with area businesses and organizations.

"We feel as if we have (been successful)," Smith said, "we feel ... we're building contacts and relationships."

Nearly 300 agencies rely on the center to help them find volunteers.

Corporate sponsors also made it possible for the center to provide workshops called "lunch and learns" for volunteer managers.