Despite the wide variety of social services and non-profit agencies scattered around Northern Arizona, some people may have a hard time finding the help they need.
On Jan. 28, over 50 of those organizations will come together at Killip Elementary School so people in need of various services can learn about and get in contact with the wide variety of organizations. This event is known as Project Connect.
“Project Connect is a one day service event where we get as many of the service providers as we can in one location,” said Michael Van Ness, a manager at the Guidance Center in Flagstaff, who has been helping organize Project Connect for the past few years. “Because, the biggest barriers people have receiving services is [either] transportation or lack of information.”
“We try to do it all in one location,” Van Ness said. “We have haircuts and showers. There’s always food of some kind and sometimes we have dental services. All the different social service agencies, the governmental agencies that provide assistance, and sometimes religious organizations and other non-profits come and they give everything they can at the event.”
The process of receiving aid starts at the door, explained community organizer Sara Herron. Volunteers will act as guides and interview clients in order to figure out which services they need. Then the guides take the visitors around the event, helping to fill out paperwork and make the process easier. The NAU Kayettes, a female community service club on campus, help with daycare services.
“As for guides, we connect that volunteer with the client who is there for service and they literally act as a tour guide,” said Herron. “The goal in this is to break down the barrier between those who are homeless and those who are not and to have some connection with someone you wouldn’t have that opportunity to connect with in any other avenue of your life.”
Van Ness said he wants to encourage more NAU students to volunteer for the event, as they still need close to 150 more people.
Cassandra Marshall, the NAU Psychology Club president, hopes more students attend so they can become more embedded in the Flagstaff community.
“Such a huge part of moving out of the college scene and getting your degree is becoming involved with the community and a lot of people don’t know how to reach out to the community,” said Marshall, a senior psychology major. “It’s going to be great for students to see problems that they don’t see day to day.”
Herron can account for the life changing experiences of volunteering.
“For me, it just broke down the stereotypes of what homelessness is — or was — in my opinion and I hope that students will get that same connection,” said Herron. “My hope with all the volunteers is to break down that stereotype, break down those barriers so people can have more compassion for those who are facing hard times.”
More information about volunteering and volunteer forms can be found at the “Project Change” Facebook page. However, forms are not needed to show up at the volunteer orientation sessions Jan. 27 at noon and 5:30 at Killip Elementary School.
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