Friday, February 7, 1997
Nonprofits to show their stuff at the Mall
By JAN WOODWARD / Staff Writer
No less than 50 nonprofit organizations will set up booths
at the Mall of Abilene to promote community awareness of their
missions and to show off their "stuff."
The fourth annual Nonprofit Showcase will be held from 10 a.m.-
9 p.m. Saturday.
"This is the perfect opportunity for Abilenians and area
individuals to discover volunteer opportunities, to find agencies
to meet their needs and even to find agencies to give their financial
support to," says Gail Kaiser, head of the Nonprofit Resource
Center, which is directing the event.
The Showcase began in 1994 as a collaborative effort between
the class of Leadership Abilene 1993 and the Nonprofit Resource
Center, which was then known as the Abilene Center for Nonprofit
Management.
That class of leaders wanted to meet a need of giving something
back to the community and wanted to help the local nonprofit market
as well.
Since that time, the project has been picked up and supported
by the Done in a Day committee of the Junior League of Abilene,
AAA Printing, Luby's Cafeteria and the Mall of Abilene.
In the past, showcase volunteers have been provided by service
clubs from the local universities and groups from Dyess Air Force
Base.
This year, volunteers will come from the Junior League of Abilene
and members of the Epsilon Pi Alpha service sorority at Hardin-Simmons
University.
"Abilene has over 200 nonprofit organizations and with
a population of over 100,000 caring individuals, this showcase
is the perfect avenue to bring the projects to the people and
the people to the projects," Kaiser said.
The showcase gives the public a chance to see many of these
agencies at the same time in a nonthreatening setting. It's one
of the best ways to get to know theses organizations, to ask them
questions and to find out exactly what they have to offer, Kaiser
said.
Representatives from the newest to the more familiar nonprofit
groups will be on hand for the day-long event.
Booths will offer information on the arts in Abilene, services
for children, the elderly, the homeless, the abused, the infirm,
and the civic-minded. Some booths will even provide information
on services for the animal population of the area.
The groups, in turn, can visit with each other and find out
what specific services the others provide. They can do their own
networking, finding ways to collaborate with each other and share
information.
This year, officials are hoping for better weather than in
1996.
Last year the showcase was held on one of the most miserable
of winter days
But that didn't seem to stop people from attending the event.
In fact one nonprofit gained a loyal and outstanding volunteer
from Winters.
While visiting the showcase, the man learned about Hospice
of the Big Country and volunteered, driving to Abilene several
times a week for training, said Mary Lois Duke. He now visits
hospice patients in Winters, Ballinger and Coleman.
"What a blessing he has been to this hospice. He has become
one of our most devoted volunteers," she said.
Kaiser said she is proud of area volunteers and praised them
for their volunteer spirit.
"Every time I open my newspaper, I'm amazed at all the
good things that go on here and all the ways volunteers enrich
the lives of others," she said.
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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