Thanksgiving is less than a week away, and if volunteering is part of your holiday tradition (or you'd like it to be), the Charleston area has plenty of opportunities. Here are a few of them to choose from:
n The Keep Your Faith Corporation needs volunteers to help clean up at its 10th annual Earl Wilson Community Thanksgiving Dinner, scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday at the Tiskelwah Center on Charleston's West Side. KYF founder Dural Miller said volunteers are needed to help pass out and pick up trays as well as sweep and mop after the dinner, which last year fed about 400 people. People interested in volunteering may show up before the dinner on the day of the event, Miller said.
n Organizers of the Frank Veltri Annual Thanksgiving Dinner are looking for volunteers to deliver meals. People with trucks, vans and SUVs are preferred because the boxes are large. The meal will be held from 12 to 2 p.m., Thursday, at First Baptist Church, 432 Shrewsbury Street in Charleston. Delivery drivers usually come in between 10 and 11 a.m. Anyone interested in volunteering is asked to email adouglas@wvcovenanthouse.org by Tuesday.
n The Charleston YWCA will have a Thanksgiving meal at 1 p.m. Thursday at its Sojourner's Shelter for Homeless Women & Families. The meal is being delivered, so the shelter could use three to four volunteers to warm the food, serve and clean up after the meal. Those who want to volunteer are asked to arrive by 11:45 a.m. They should be done by 2:30 p.m. Those interested may call Jeremy at 304-340-3562 or email jbrannon@ywcacharleston.org to volunteer.
n Mountain Mission is looking for volunteers for its Thanksgiving meal, slated for 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday at its soup kitchen, 1634 Sixth Ave. on Charleston's West Side. Volunteers may show up around 5:30 p.m. on the day of the event and tell a staff member that they want to help, executive director John Roberts said. They may also call ahead to 304-344-3407.
"We invite people who want to volunteer and invite the hungry folks to come in, sit down and get a good, warm meal," Roberts said.
The organization is gearing up for Christmas, when it will give out meal boxes with around $100,000 worth of food, he said. Responding to the flood earlier this year put a financial strain on the organization and donations are needed for Christmas, Roberts said.
n If cooking isn't your thing, there also are opportunities next weekend to ring bells for the Salvation Army's annual Red Kettle campaign. The bell ringers don't work on Thanksgiving but Black Friday and the following weekend are an important time for the campaign, said Major Brooks Gilliam, area commander for the Salvation Army. The best way to volunteer is to sign up with the organization through the website at http://redkettlevolunteer.org/.
n Volunteers still are needed to assist the survivors of June's devastating flood. Skilled workers and trained disaster teams may contact Ben Cisco with WV VOAD at 304-235-2692 (ext. 8), or email wvvoadflood16@yahoo.com. Community and student groups, individuals and non-disaster teams should contact the long-term recovery committees in each of the affected counties. A list of contact information for the committees is available at www.wvflood.com.