Philadelphia is calling all volunteers

The city of Philadelphia is launching a new push for volunteers. The effort comes out of a two year grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

Philadelphia is recruiting new volunteers to help tutoring kids and planting trees, among other things.

The new effort is called Serve Philadelphia and it is being funded by a two year grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.  Chief Service Officer Catie Wolfgang explains the three major goals of the effort.

“To create or elevate volunteer opportunities that impact community vitality and educational outcomes,” she says.  “The second goal is to simply make it easier for Philadelphians of every age to volunteer, and thirdly to support public and private sector efforts to engage volunteers in ways that have the greatest impact.”

The grant money funds Wolfgang’s office.

Mayor Michael Nutter says there is a wealth of untapped volunteer energy in the city.  He believes a major outreach could help convince people to share their time.