“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”-- Mahatma Gandhi

If you ask almost any retail businessman or woman what their most difficult problem is these days, many will say it is finding people who are willing to work. Short-staffing has become an epidemic, particularly among service-oriented businesses like restaurants. Even the Philadelphia Police Department, according to top police officials, has 1,000 fewer police personnel than they had before the pandemic.

Imagine, then, how hard it must be for nonprofit organizations to attract volunteers, who are essential to the organizations' proper functioning, when those nonprofits cannot offer salaries, and benefits like paid vacation and sick days or health care?

However, longtime Mt. Airy resident and Summit Presbyterian Church member Jane M. Von Bergen, a 35-year veteran of the Philadelphia Inquirer who covered labor, jobs and the economy and wrote the acclaimed non-fiction work, “On the Job,” has come up with a possible solution.

She and others have organized what may be the Philadelphia area's first “Job Fair for Volunteers” for many nonprofit organizations in Northwest Philadelphia. The event, called “Northwest Volunteer Connect,” will be held on Saturday, Jan. 6, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Summit Presbyterian Church, at Greene and Westview streets in West Mt. Airy.

“For our church, our mission is supposed to be helping people, so helping people help others fits right in,” Von Bergen said last week. “We're a very small congregation, so we don't have the capacity for big volunteer projects, but we do have the room and the ability to host this kind of event. And truthfully, I've never heard of another 'volunteer job fair' like it.”

The church is partnering with both Mt. Airy neighborhood groups, West Mt. Airy Neighbors (WMAN) and East Mt. Airy Neighbors (EMAN).

“We figured a January timing might work if people have resolved to get more involved in the community in the new year,” she said. “At a recent meeting of Northwest organizations, hosted by the Patricia Kind [Family] Foundation, so many folks there were lamenting the lack of volunteers, and someone suggested that the community needed a volunteer job fair. Then lo and behold, we called Jo Winter at WMAN with exactly that in mind!”

If it turns out well, Von Bergen said, and their event attracts lots of potential volunteers, they plan to make it an annual event. 

“We are delighted to co-sponsor this event,” said Josephine Winter, executive director of WMAN. “There are many outstanding nonprofits serving neighbors across the Northwest, and so many folks looking for ways to volunteer. We really hope that providing this 'matchmaking' opportunity will result in even more positive outcomes for our communities, engagement among our neighbors and support for these worthy organizations.”

Deborah Milburn, chaplain for Wesley Enhanced Living at Stapeley, a senior living center in Germantown, told us, “I got a call from Summit Church asking if we wanted to be part of the event. I jumped at the opportunity. That was an exciting call to take. We always need volunteers.”

Before the pandemic, Milburn said, the center had up to 50 volunteers. 

“Now we have about 10 regulars,” she said. “They help with Bible studies and religious matters and sometimes just listening. We love our volunteers and never get enough of them.”

Mark Smith, a founder of Germantown Interfaith Power & Light Tree Tenders, which plants trees for Germantown residents who want them, said his group started at Summit Church so joining this effort was natural. 

 “She asked me to have a table at the volunteer job fair, and of course, I said yes,” he said. “We are committed to addressing climate change with a moral imperative. We plant trees, which are great for the climate, through the auspices of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, and we are all volunteers, myself included, so I hope we can get more at the fair.”

Local theater groups say they, too, could use help. 

“We have so many interesting things to do in the theater that volunteers could help with,” said Victoria Sicks, director of development at Quintessence Theatre Group in Mt. Airy. “Volunteering here is a wonderful way to support your community and an interesting way to see how theaters run and how plays get made.”

When we reached out to her about the “job fair,” the Rev. Cheryl Pyrch, who leads Summit Church, said volunteering can wind up doing more for the volunteer than it does for the organization that needs their help. 

“The surgeon general has called loneliness and the lack of social connection an 'epidemic' exacerbated by Covid,” she said. “It's time for us to get back to face-to-face! We're hoping Northwest Volunteer Connect will help people do that.”

For more information, visit summitpres.net. You can reach Len Lear at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com