Are You A Community Changemaker? Helpline Center Needs You

The Helpline Center exists to help people. To accomplish this mission, they need other people who care about their friends and neighbors, their communities, people, and families who are less fortunate than the rest of us. These individuals are changemakers and they make our world a little bit better for the rest of us.

The good news is, we can all be changemakers by doing simple acts of kindness. The secret is to take action and the opportunities are all around us. Here are two volunteer projects that can make a real, noticeable difference in our community and state.

The Helpline Center Basic Needs Donation Drive - Begins Monday, August 10, and ends Monday, August 31. This drive is going on in the Sioux Falls area, Brookings County, and the Black Hills area. People are encouraged to drop off their donations in Sioux Falls, at the Non-Profit Center at 1000 N. West Avenue and at First Lutheran Church at 327 S. Dakota Avenue (August 18th only from 4 to 7 and drive-through drop off will be available).

Some items to include:

• Hygiene items - Toothbrushes, toothpaste, travel-size shampoo, conditioner, and body soap, travel-size deodorant, hand lotion, and shaving cream, sanitizing wipes (of any size), and hand sanitizer.
• School supplies - Spiral notebooks, looseleaf paper, pocket folders, No.2 or mechanical pencils, colored pencils, erasers, black or blue pens, highlighters, crayons, markers, pencil boxes or pouches, children's scissors, and glue.

Assemble COVID-19 Testing Kits as a Sanford Health volunteers - You'll be putting swabs and vials together for collection kits for COVID testing sites. Individuals and groups are welcome.

Those are just two of the hundreds of volunteer openings available to make a real difference in our community. For more information, if you need help, or can help, call 211, see the Helpline Center online and on Facebook.