Shepherd’s Center of Chesterfield in need of volunteers

CHESTERFIELD, Va. (WWBT) - The Shepherd’s Center of Chesterfield is in critical need of volunteers as they continue to serve people age 60 and older.

“We’re looking for volunteers and we’re looking for donations because that’s what keeps us alive,” explained longtime volunteer Donald Raybould. “The whole idea, as we say, is to allow the seniors to stay in place as safely and as fully as they can.”

For 20 years, the organization has been helping people get to medical appointments, the pharmacy and grocery store in Chesterfield and surrounding areas. The Shepherd’s Center also offers what they call Adventures in Learning classes as well as the Handy Hands Program.

“If you become an instructor, if you have a skill and you want to share that skill with somebody, sign up to become an instructor. If you have an interest in something, odds are somebody else does, too,” he said. “We will come in and we’ll put up a storm windows or we’ll take them down. We will hang drapes, we will hang pictures. We will replace washers and a faucet, (something) that doesn’t require a plumbing license. We won’t go in and fix the pipes.”

Raybould says there is a critical need for Handy Hands volunteers as well as drivers. During the pandemic, the volunteer driver base went from 80 to 25 people.

“We made 1,500 drives last year,” said Raybould. “We had a whole lot of people that couldn’t get out because of COVID. So we began going to the food bank gathering the food and taking it to them.”

Interested volunteers can contact 804-706-9198 or shepcenter@gmail.com. Anyone interested in driving will be required to provide a DMV record.

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