Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter
Joan McDonald speaks at yesterday's Gleaner-organised breakfast meeting on the voluntary sector. Listening (from left) are Fr. Gregory Ramkissoon of the Mustard Seed Communities and Jaslin Salmon of the Jamaica Red Cross.
THE VOLUNTARY sector needs more volunteers to cope with an over-whelming demand for its service, said representatives of voluntary groups attending yesterday's Gleaner-hosted breakfast meeting. The sector, they said, is short of professionals with specialised skills but also needs to involve youths from inner-city areas.
Could their answer come from the Council of Voluntary Social Services' (CVSS) National Registry of Volunteers (NRV)? Yes, believes Project Coordinator Joan McDonald supported by a database of over 90 agencies and 3,000 registered volunteers. Among other details prospective volunteers are asked to specify are their skills, availability and categories of interest. The registry, said Mrs. McDonald, aims for a registration of 15,000 members by December 5 - United Nations (UN) International Volunteer Day.
MORE YOUTH NEEDED
"There is a pressing need for young blood," agreed Father Brian Young of Missionaries of the Poor. "It can be hard to get volunteers and our concern is whether people will respond to this need - because we are working in the ghettos."
All types of volunteers are needed, agreed the group at yesterday's meeting but specialised volunteers in areas such as fund-raising and mentoring are imperative. "I am finding that I am doing everything from counselling to referrals," said Sarah Martin-Newland, general secretary of Kingston YMCA. "Come September, I will have 100 more school dropouts and we need more help."
Training was an issue agreed Father Gregory Ramkissoon, executive director of Mustard Seed Communities, who said his organisation had to turn away some volunteers too 'green' for certain tasks. But said Suchet Loois, country director of United States Peace Corps, his organisation and others would be on hand to provide specialist training. Voluntary organisations needed more 'professional' organisation agreed the group. A recent two-week course on this subject run by the CVSS at the University of West Indies, Mona, observed Mrs. McDonald had 100 applicants for 50 places.
INNER CITIES TO BE TARGETED
The Gleaner's group of middle-aged-plus invitees agreed when questioned with academic Don Robotham's 1998 assertion "... that the current crop of volunteers is ageing".
"More involvement of inner-city youths is needed," said Father Ramkissoon. "We need to be in the violent communities and involving the young and stimulating job-creation activities ... There is an amazing caring capital from the inner cities." There is also a need he added, for stipends to be provided to cover people's expenses.
All agreed there was a pressing need to target, in particular, youths aged 12-16 in inner-city areas. Revolutionary Artistic Global Expression or RAGE, is a South St. Andrew-based organi-sation that does just this, aiming to positively channel the anger of inner-city youth.
RAGE founder, 29-year-old Vuraldo Barnett, who was born, and still lives in his organisation's area, argues that youths must be made to feel involved but also be convinced that they have an economic future other than crime. In order to motivate youths he suggests, volunteering must lead to the option of a career: "The future of RAGE is to be self-funding. We all need a job and this is mine. I have a daughter to provide for and I have to be more than just a volunteer, I have worked too hard to stop."
