Volunteering
Volunteer opportunities exist for both direct and indirect contact with clients. We have volunteer opportunities to fit every lifestyle and time slot you may have available. Volunteering is a great way to get to know us! Every hour spent volunteering is an hour that our direct care staff can spend serving our clients more effectively.
Special Event Volunteering:
We rely on many volunteers to assist us with these special events by helping us with set-up, clean-up, activities, games, serving, etc.
- Valentine Card Making/Dinner Theater - February
- Spring Clean-up Work Day - May/June
- Golf Tournament - July
- Summer Fun Day - August
- Fall Clean-up Work Day - September
- Gala Benefit/Halloween Party - October
- Community Thanksgiving - November
- Caroling with our Choir/Gift Wrapping for Clients
Artist in Residence:
Our Artist in Residence, who plans fun art activities with clients on a regular basis, can always use help and project ideas
Mailing Assistance:
We have monthly mailings that require labels, sorting, and stamps. Get a group together and come over to help. You can talk while you work, and time flies.
Pet Therapy:
Do you own a pet therapy dog or cat? We love to have furry visitors and their humans come to visit. They really touch us in ways that are special.
Sewing and Mending:
Some of our clients are really hard on their clothes, and we could use some help with mending. We always need new curtains or quilts as well.
College Buddy:
A College Buddy is a full-time, registered student in good standing with Carleton or St. Olaf who is paired in a one-to-one friendship with a person with developmental disabilities (a Buddy). All students who are interested in becoming a College Buddy should contact Jane Fenton. All potential candidates must complete and pass a Background Study Check, College Buddy Fact Sheet and Volunteer Assignment Form. All potential candidates must also go through the appropriate training as mandated by LBSA and the State of Minnesota. At the beginning of each year of contact, Mantoux tests are mandatory.
Our Volunteer Stories
Carleton Class of 1967 Spruces Up Laura Baker Playground
By Jane Fenton, Director of Community Relations at Laura Baker Services
A few months ago, a member of the Carleton class of 1967 contacted me about doing some kind of service project during their reunion weekend in June. I agreed, wondering how easy was it going to be to organize all these far-flung people convening for a few days in Northfield. Thanks to the tireless efforts of class member Hal Hart, over 35 volunteers showed up last Friday to rehab our playground and host an afternoon bingo game for our clients.
The result: a new lease on life for our old playground, and a real feeling of accomplishment for our new friends from the class of 1967. They sanded, sawed, scraped, painted, trimmed, built a sandbox cover and demolished an old culvert playtube in just a few hours. Never underestimate the power of a group of committed people!
Being an Inspiration
Imagine growing up and wanting to have your own apartment, a job and friends. Now imagine trying to do that with a developmental disability that sometimes is the first thing people see about you.
The road has not been easy. Margie, a longtime Laura Baker client, had to learn how to manage her money, do housekeeping chores and grocery shopping, including menu planning. Margie started out living as a teenager in our first group home on the Oak St. campus. She will tell you right away that her life dream was to have her own apartment. “I had to work hard to earn it. I had to show my staff and family that I could do it,” she says.
It took years, but her diligence paid off when her support team agreed that she was ready to try living on her own. Sometimes she learned the hard way about writing checks with insufficient funds. She reports that hasn’t been an issue for a long time now.
Now imagine having a friend who just shows up and hangs out with you and doesn’t make you prove or earn anything. Janet Tritch, Margie’s friend, laughs. “There’s a lot of people who could learn that lesson,” she says. Janet volunteered at last year’s LBSA Charity Golf tournament and decided to apply as a volunteer to spend one-on-one time with a client. “I wanted a meaningful volunteer job that involved having an ongoing relationship with another person,” she explains. “In college, I volunteered with Special Olympics and got hooked.”
Donor contributions to Laura Baker Services actually help make all this possible.
Margie and Janet get together a couple of times a month, enjoying each other’s company. They share some interests, such as baking, shopping and watching old movies. Margie says the main pleasure is “just having someone to interact with”. Janet says “it started out as volunteering, but now it’s become a friendship.”
Margie has a Laura Baker staff member who supports her in some areas for a few hours a month, mostly with scheduling her many activities around her job. Margie sings in the LBSA choir, does Special Olympics and has a large network of friends.
Bonnie Martinson, LBSA Director of Community Services, says that Margie has good reason to be proud. “She’s become so independent in so many ways, it’s wonderful to watch.”
Thank you to all who made this life dream possible
