Fellowship Cup is looking for a few good volunteers

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

It?s almost that time of year again, the annual Midwest Old Threshers Reunion is nearly here and Ken Brown, director of the Fellowship Cup, is looking for a few good volunteers. Actually, he?s looking for quite a few volunteers.

?We get great support throughout the year for all of our programs, but the biggest challenge, of course, is the Old Threshers Reunion. I think mainly because there are a lot of factors that make it difficult recruiting volunteers,? he said.

One of those factors, Brown said, is that this is simply a busy time of year for Henry County residents. ?There are so many other things going on that week that people are committed to,? he explained.

The other reason it?s difficult to find Old Threshers volunteers is because, ?if you?re not involved with Old Threshers, you get out of town,? he jokes.

Brown said the pool of volunteers is also shrinking. ?A majority of our volunteers are people who are retired or seniors, and each year I find more and more people saying, ?this is going to be my last year?,? he said. And, Brown says, there isn?t a line of people waiting to pick up that mantel.

Brown said this trend has forced the Fellowship Cup to look beyond its normal organizations to recruit from. ?With that challenge, we have to start reaching out outside of what we normally do as far as churches and other groups to see who else we can recruit, really, to keep our gates manned.?

During the festivities, the Fellowship Cup and its volunteers man the gates and the counting booths. ?We have over 450 shifts we have to man,? said Brown.

The shifts are four-hours long and will begin on Monday, Aug. 29 through Monday, Sept. 5. The gates are generally open from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

According to Brown, it?s not difficult to man the counting booths, as it?s air conditioned, but it can be difficult to have enough volunteers to man the gate.

Brown said it?s not just about getting the gates manned, but having some extra volunteers just in case. ?Last year was a challenging year because of the weather,? he said. ?It would be nice to have some other folks to relieve shifts if the weather were to get hot like that. Then we can do more shift changes, have people on standby, so we can give folks relief from the heat.?

?People ask us all year long ?what do you need?? Old Threshers is the biggest need.?

Brown said Old Threshers? is the main fundraiser for the non-profit organization. ?We?re contracted by Midwest Old Threshers to man the gate and that by far is our biggest fundraiser as far as revenue that comes in to sustain our programs. That?s another reason why it?s a big deal for us,? he said.

Some of those programs include summer sacks, which has been serving roughly 160 lunches a day and the current school supply drive.

Volunteers must be 15 or older to handle cash. ?That?s really the only requirement,? chuckled Brown.

Brown added that if families want to come out to help, they could always help put on wristbands. ?Thursday, Friday, Saturday is always really busy times. If they want to go out and just help put wristbands on, the gates have a challenge because they?re collecting cash, putting money away and putting wristbands on. If they had someone there that could put the wristbands on, it just helps expedite entry,? he said.

To volunteer, call the Fellowship Cup at 319-385-3242.