Volunteers : Helping hands : HUNTINGTON BEACH : Nonprofit Groups Run on People Power

People pitch in for a variety of reasons, says Debbie Ellis, executive director of Huntington Beach’s Volunteer Exchange.

Some give their time because they believe strongly in a certain cause or organization. Others, she said, may be seeking a productive way to use idle hours, hoping to learn new job skills or looking for challenges because their occupations are not fulfilling.

But the main reason why people volunteer, at least the first time, Ellis said, is because people they know and respect ask them to help out. They re-enlist, she said, because they discover how gratifying it can be to help someone truly needy.

“It’s an accomplishment,” she said. “Maybe they didn’t change the world, but they made one person’s life a little better.”

In Orange County for more than 25 years, the organization matches resources with local needs.

“We recruit volunteers and place them in nonprofit organizations,” said Ellis, 41, who has led the organization since 1988. “We can help them get started. We have plenty of agencies that have plenty of needs.”

The Volunteer Exchange charges no fees to match up prospective helpers with the organizations that need them. It now works with about 800 nonprofit groups in need of what Ellis calls “people power.”

One of the those people is Annamae Zimmer of Fountain Valley, who signed up because she wanted to “do something outside of the house--and I wanted to help somebody else.”

Zimmer, 63, spends at least three hours a week filing court cases for a program that allows those convicted of misdemeanors to do community service as an alternative to fines or jail time.

Ellis estimates that volunteers such as Zimmer donated more than $9 million worth of “people power” in Orange County last year.

“We helped homeless shelters, seniors, boys and girls clubs, animal and environmental groups. We help anybody who is helping the community,” she said.

One of those groups is the Orange County Community Development Council, a nonprofit agency that operates a food bank to help low-income people.

“We’ve grown, and our need for volunteers has expanded,” said Mark Lowry, food bank director. Volunteer Exchange, he said, “has been responsive to introducing us to new groups and individuals.”

Lowry said that his organization relies on 25 volunteers a day to sort food and pack it in boxes. “It’s never enough,” he said. “Our needs are increasing, and as a private charity we could never afford to pay.

“Our services would come to a screeching halt and would have to be pared back if we didn’t have the support of people coming in to volunteer their time.”

For information about the Volunteer Exchange and its programs, call (714) 375-7755.

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COMPILED BY DEBRA CANO