FAIRLEA, WV (WOAY) – In the middle of this global pandemic, you may be wondering how you can help.
On behalf of the Greater Greenbrier County COVID-19 Task Force, State Senator Stephen Baldwin and Greater Greenbrier Long-Term Recovery Committee Director Kayla McCoy held a small press conference on Tuesday to ask for volunteers.
“Bottom line is, we don’t need volunteers right now, but we think we’re going to be in a position pretty soon where we probably will need volunteers,” Sen. Baldwin said.
When that time comes, they want to be ready. However, there are requirements for those interested. You must be between the ages of 18 and 60 (ages 15-17 require parental consent).You must be asymptomatic, as in you have not visited a CDC COVID-19 Hotspot in the past 14 days, and you must be willing to go through a background check and do the required paperwork.
You could be called in this capacity to help with getting food to vulnerable populations like the elderly and school children.
“Assembling bagged lunches and loading them and driving them to different places around the Greenbrier Valley,” McCoy said. “We are also in talks with some community agencies that may also need some assistance if they’re going to see an influx of people coming to use their programs.”
These volunteers are not being asked to spring into action now, but in the event that school service personnel would be asked to not report to school, there would be a void that would need to be filled.
This is why the Greater Greenbrier Long-Term Recovery Committee is looking for at least 50 people who want to help.
“This is important right now because as with any public crisis these situations can change daily, sometimes hourly, so it is of the utmost importance that we’re prepared to care for our vulnerable population in the coming weeks,” McCoy said.
If you are interested in signing up to volunteer, you can email the Greater Greenbrier Long-Term Recovery Committee at volunteer@ggltrc.org. Because of the influx of calls and Facebook messages, McCoy says email is the best way.
Originally, the GGLTRC said that a Food Handlers Card or ServSafe certification would be required, but McCoy says that has since been waived by the health department and only one person per site is required to have that certification.
