Meet, greet and give back to the community

By Mary Delach Leonard
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
06/26/2007


Emily Fullerton, center, supervises other volunteers as they beautify a section of landscape with plants and bushes around the Epworth Center in Webster Groves last week.
(Karen Elshout/P-D)

"Sweat, bugs, dirt. . . awesome! That new guy Roger was pretty cool, too."
MEET UP TO VOLUNTEER
St. Louis Volunteer Group: Go to this link and type "Saint Louis Volunteer Group" into the search field
The Green Team of St. Louis also meets through meetup.com.

So went the online discussion the day after the St. Louis Volunteer Group, a band of freelance volunteers, got together to plant a garden at Epworth Children and Family Services in Webster Groves.

The group, which connected and stays in touch on the meetup.com website, has a simple mission: to give back to the community while having fun and meeting new people.

Since it began in October, the group has become a small army — 176 and growing. They've given out blankets to the homeless; scrubbed toilets at the Covenant House, a home for runaway and at-risk youth; and made posters for St. Louis Effort for Aids.
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"The more, the merrier, is my philosophy. I didn't think it would grow this fast," said Emily Fullerton, 28, of St. Louis, who founded the group and lines up the projects.

Most members are in their mid-20s to late 30s; the oldest is 60. They come from all walks of life and have diverse interests, so Fullerton tries to schedule a variety of projects on different days. A core group of 20 to 30 stays actively involved, with other members dropping in when a project appeals to them or when they have free time.

Scheduling the projects has become a second job, said Fullerton, a physician recruiter.

"A lot of times, I work through lunch and after work," she said.

The group's message board keeps a tally of volunteer hours contributed to area nonprofit organizations — 700 hours, so far. But at its heart, the St. Louis Volunteer Group is a social group, a way for people to meet, Fullerton said.

Andrea Campbell, 35, of Richmond Heights, discovered the volunteers while searching meetup.com for local groups to join.

"I think it's a brilliant way for people who have similar interests to get to know one another,'' said Campbell, an editor for a medical publishing firm. "It's not just meaningless social drifting."

Campbell's first project was helping prepare the Karen House, a St. Louis shelter for women and children, for renovation work. It was a dirty job — moving furniture and cleaning debris. Also new to the group that day was Carol Shouse, 55, who recently moved to Wood River from Seattle to be near her daughter's family.

"I'm loving it,'' Shouse said. "It's going to be a good way to meet people and satisfy my volunteering need. I'll be back.''

John Cameron, 37, of St. Louis, said the group's success is partly due to the concept behind meetup.com: bringing together people with common interests.

"This is a social group first, and our events happen to be painting or gardening or whatever," Cameron said.

Debbie Nash, manager of volunteer resources for the Wyman Center, a program for disadvantaged youths, said she is impressed with the group's versatility. The volunteers helped interview teens for the center's camp program and planted a garden.

"It's very unique — very eclectic. I'm not aware of any other group that has come together so generically,'' Nash said. "They want to volunteer and socialize.''