Organizations that rely on volunteers in the Tampa Bay area have struggled as COVID-19 has kept helpers away. New opportunities and safety guidelines could encourage their return.
Last year, 29,571 volunteers worked with Metropolitan Ministries, a volunteer-fueled community nonprofit that provides food, housing, financial aid and education to those in need throughout Tampa Bay. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, it has lost about 60 percent of its volunteer base, even as organizations like Feeding America have reported increased food insecurity and need.
“Our need for volunteers throughout our service area remains a constant focus,” said Shannon Hannon Oliviero, the external affairs officer at Feeding Tampa Bay. “The 2 million meals we distribute every week, that would be impossible to serve without the help of our volunteer force.”
Feeding Tampa Bay is a chapter of Feeding America that assists food insecure people in Pinellas, Hillsborough and eight other counties. Its services include delivering meals and running free food pantries. It suffered a 40 percent decrease in volunteers shortly after Florida declared a state of emergency in response to COVID-19.
The Crisis Center of Tampa Bay is a nonprofit that supports people experiencing mental, financial and other crises. According to Ken Gibson, the Crisis Center’s director of marketing, a significant portion of the volunteers that work their Traveler’s Aid desk in the Tampa International Airport are retirees, age 50 and up, with travel industry experience.
“We’ve had to make adjustments to our services, but the one area we had to pause because of the pandemic was at the airport,” said Gibson. “For about two months, we paused those services.”
The Crisis Center also has volunteers working for their sexual assault advocacy services. That department currently has volunteers who have chosen to stay home and is training new volunteers to supplement their staff.
Some organizations have implored citizens to stay safe, even if that means not coming in to help.
“We kindly ask volunteers who fall within an “at-risk” category or those not feeling well to take care of themselves at home,” said Feeding Tampa Bay on its volunteer sign-up page, though the group recognized that the need for its services will continue to increase. Those at-risk categories include the immunocompromised and those over age 65.
Some volunteers staying home are seniors, a demographic more vulnerable to the coronavirus according to the Centers for Disease Control.
As the pandemic continues, organizations have made changes to their operations to make volunteering safer. The Metropolitan Ministries website lists social distancing and limiting groups to 10 individuals or less among their adaptations.
“We’ve had to space people out, we put people in other parts of the building, we have some people working from home,” said Gibson about the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay’s call center.
Those who feel unsafe volunteering in-person may be able to contribute virtually. 211 Tampa Bay Cares is a helpline referral and crisis assistance nonprofit that offers social media ambassador, emergency response and community resource positions for remote volunteers.
Some organizations are adapting events to be individual affairs. SOAR First, a Tampa-based nonprofit supporting youth development, hosted a socially-distant volunteer event on Facebook called Tampa Community Cleanup. Participants were encouraged to take a walk in a location of their choosing, pick up trash and post a picture as a safe way to make a difference.
