Everyone needs a little help once in a while.
At Volunteer Interfaith Caregivers of Corvallis, we reach out to two vulnerable groups in our community: people with disabilities of any age and people over 60. We appreciate our incredible network of kind, loving volunteers, many of whom have been with us for years—one has been with us since 1987!
Enriching Caregivers and Care Receivers
Volunteering with VIC can enhance your life and the lives of the Care Receivers you assist. Our VIC Volunteers find it deeply rewarding to donate their time meaningfully and build connections with our community’s most vulnerable citizens.
As a volunteer, you can drive Care Receivers to medical appointments or provide physical assistance at a person’s front door by building wheelchair ramps, steps, or handrails. You can also assist a Care Receiver with grocery shopping and simple daily living tasks to honor their wish to live as independently as possible, remaining in their homes and sleeping in their beds.
Some relationships between VIC Volunteers and Care Receivers are deep-rooted and long-term. One of our volunteers has been helping the same wheelchair-bound client for 20 years! This relationship is one example of many that have formed since our inception.
Our gracious volunteers make our program a reality. The volunteers in our network find our work to be a rewarding experience, and our clients are incredibly grateful.
Do you have a desire to help others? Volunteers are needed!
“Once a caregiver, always a caregiver. If I had to stop volunteering, I would miss the people I get to help who are sharing their lives with me.”
Ginger McMurtry, volunteer for 30+ years for more than 200 Care Receivers
Who Can Be a Volunteer Caregiver?
Volunteer caregivers at VIC come from all walks of life. They do not have to have any particular skill set, only the desire to help a fragile population meet the demands of daily life.
Many seniors, for example, no longer have family or friends and rely on volunteer caregivers to assist them with everyday tasks. This kind of caregiving is non-medical and non-skilled professional care. Instead, it includes good neighborly deeds.
VIC volunteers help our Care Receivers do the things we all do––get to appointments, go grocery shopping, read books, or have a social visit. We do not give medications or provide housekeeping services. We are the ride they need or the friend they talk to.
To help ensure our community’s safety, volunteers will complete a registration form and pass a criminal record check. All VIC Volunteers participate in sequential orientation training sessions.
The ideal candidate for future VIC volunteers is:
- Someone with compassion and empathy about the aging process.
- Someone kind and patient with people from all races, genders, and ethnicities.
- Someone who sees the value in helping people access the outside world to improve their quality of life.
- Someone who spent a career in service and is comfortable interacting with different people in various situations.
- Someone with handy skills that could be useful in household repairs.
There is no minimum expectation for your service. You can give the time you have, however much or little it may be.
Help Build a
Put yourself in the shoes of someone newly dependent on either a walker or a wheelchair. Imagine the sudden and frightening awareness of being unable to leave your home. You can push your wheelchair or your walker to the edge of the porch, but navigating the steps is impossible. You have become a prisoner at your address without a ramp.
Many local charitable organizations no longer offer this light construction service, but VIC is still actively doing so.
Good candidates to build wheelchair ramps are retired or currently active contractors, carpenters, or someone who has worked in the construction trade. Most VIC Builders can be described as keen DIYers who know their way around a toolbox and are ready to give back to the community by helping housebound neighbors.
Interested in Volunteering with Us?
Fill out the form below!