In the two years since Nevada's Retired Senior Volunteer Program pulled out of Douglas County, Sheriff's Sgt. Tom Mezzetta has been in charge of shepherding the community's helpers under the umbrella of AVID - Active Volunteers in Douglas.
With a board of directors, Mezzetta obtained nonprofit status for the organization, and now is working to obtain benefits like insurance and mileage for the 350-plus volunteers when they are on the job.
"Our ultimate goal is to bring those services back to our volunteers, to be able to provide basic insurance, mileage reimbursement, and recognition," he said.
Recently, AVID hosted a volunteer appreciation picnic at the Corley Ranch south of Gardnerville attended by 250 volunteers and guests.
The county covered $600 in expenses and other items were donated by the Corleys for use of their ranch, Carson City Grocery Outlet for food donation and All Hat, No Cattle band for entertainment, Mezzetta said.
"With our nonprofit status, we'll be able to go out and seek donations and apply for grants to obtain funds we need to get our organization up and running. Our hopes and dreams are to get everyone covered by insurance and mileage while they're volunteering," he said.
AVID also is looking for a volunteer who might be able to put a database together which matches the county's needs with volunteers, Mezzetta said.
"We want to get some sort of database together to put all the volunteers and organizations that need volunteers together to better serve our community and better put to use their skills," he said.
AVID volunteers work at the Douglas County Sheriff's Office, county senior services, Carson Valley Community Food Closet, Douglas County Historical Society, Family Support Council, the school district, Carson Valley Medical center, county parks and recreation, library, and the Minden Tahoe-Airport.
"We have volunteers who have been managers of cities, have worked in nuclear power plants, hospitals - you name it," Mezzetta said. "We have a wide variety of different jobs and a lot of different skills of people ready to volunteer their time and knowledge to help Douglas County."
DETAILS
Active Volunteers in Douglas, which oversees all county volunteers, is looking for someone to create a database matching volunteers with community needs. Anyone interested in being a Douglas County volunteer is asked to call Sgt. Tom Mezzetta, 782-9931.
