IT’S ALMOST TIME!!! The GAY COMMUNITY CENTER OF RICHMOND’S 12,000 square foot DIVERSITY EVENT AND BINGO HALL is scheduled to open on Sunday, July 1st. We are well on our way on the reconstruction phase of the event hall and it is going to be a great space. Future plans for the community center include this event hall with a full kitchen, meeting rooms of various sizes, a LGBT Coffeehouse, and various bingo games. There is ample parking with a 120 space well lit parking lot, a smaller parking lot and on street parking.

ALSO UNDER CONSTRUCTION is the website, www.DiversityThrift.org. We have been out of commission for a while but look for us to be back on line in MAY. We have a volunteer who is working on revamping our site and getting everything back up! MANY THANKS TO WREN!!! Also thank you Eugene for maintaining the website in the past.

We are open to ideas for the community center and the website and have a number of volunteer opportunities related to getting both of them off to a great start (SEE BELOW) … Call us at 353-8890 or email Cindy about volunteering at VolunteerDThrift@aol.com.


There was a town hall meeting to discuss what the community wants to see happen in the community center. We had an enthusiastic crowd of approximately 50 people. We had representatives from a number of community organizations and some individuals that wanted to express their opinions… We were very pleased with the response and the variety of opinions expressed.


The ideas for the space ranged from educational forums, PRIDE events, visual and performing arts projects, game nights, potlucks, how-to classes, supports groups, family camp-in nights and many, many more. There were a lot of people that are ready to step up from the day we open to make many of these events an immediate reality. Stay tuned to the newsletter (and soon to the website) for updates on what’s happening at the Gay Community Center of Richmond.


We will be having another town hall meeting in several months and we hope to have even more people attending. The date will be posted as soon as it is announced!


Volunteer Opportunities!!!

We need YOUR help!!!

We now have evening hours available for volunteers. Volunteers can now help with shelving general merchandise or books and processing clothing 4 evenings a week; Monday through Thursday, we are now open for volunteering from 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm as well as our regular hours of 10 am – 6 pm daily. Be the first to see the new treasures arriving daily! Get first choice after they’ve been priced by regular staff!


CAN YOU VOLUNTEER 8 HOURS OR MORE IN 2007? Diversity Thrift is seeking volunteers who can commit to volunteering at least 8 hours this year. Of course, we’d love to have you come out more often, perhaps 8 hours every 1st Saturday or the month, or 4 hours every 2nd Monday, etc... We are very flexible and rely on volunteers to help keep our overhead down so more money is available to work on the Community Center and to give to the groups we support. This is an important community activity. Please remember us….we are here to serve the community and you can join the effort. We rely on your assistance. Come by and get a tour of the building and then decide if you can help us out.


WE ARE WELL ON THE WAY IN RENOVATING THE SECOND PART OF THE BUILDING – THE EVENT HALL WILL BE OPENING JULY 1, 2007 AND WE WILL HAVE A WONDERFUL SPACE FOR COMMUNITY EVENTS. If you want a tour, come by and ask for Cindy.


THANK YOU TO ALL VOLUNTEERS WHO COME OUT AND HELP. WE HAVE A WONDERFUL OF CADRE OF VOLUNTEERS WHO HELP WITH BINGO, THE BOOK ROOM, DATA ENTRY AND LANDSCAPING/GENERAL MAINTENANCE. THANK YOU SO MUCH! EACH OF YOU IS A MAJOR PART OF OUR SUCCESS!

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Cindy Bray, Volunteer Coordinator at 353-8890 or email VolunteerDThrift@aol.com. Here are a few of our current opportunities:


**********NEW VOLUNTEER NEEDS**********

• EXTERIOR PAINTING – We want to spiff up the exterior of the building before the big grand opening of the event hall. We need volunteers to scrape some areas of peeling paint and to do some outside painting. We want our building for the community center to look as FABULOUS as our community.
• BACKUP BINGO CALLER - Diversity Bingo is in need of a volunteer backup caller for our Thursday night and Saturday morning bingo games. Training provided. Email DiversityThrift@aol.com if interested.

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• BINGO! – Thursday nights 5:30 pm – 10:15 pm or Saturday mornings 10 am – 2:15 pm at the Jamaica Club on Route 1 about 2 miles north of Virginia Center Commons (towards Ashland). No experience needed! Just a willingness to help! GREAT EXERCISE!!! Walk around the Bingo Hall while selling instant tickets. FREE MEAL during each session. The food is GREAT!
• RECEIVING DONATIONS and STOCKING SHELVES –Help receive donations and get the new items on the shelves any day of the week! We especially need help on weekdays. Work with our employees, be one of the first to see new items going on the shelves. Something new everyday!!! GET FIRST CHOICE ON ITEMS GOING OUT ON SHELVES!!! GREAT WAY TO FIND TREASURES!
• PROCESSING CLOTHING - Sort clothing donations into categories, tag and get them out on the racks.
• BOOK ROOM – Do you love books??? Are you organized and a team player? We have several wonderful volunteers in the book room, but they could use some help, just a couple hours, a couple days a week, to help straighten and stock the shelves in the bookroom. Be one of the first to see the books coming in when you are stocking…, get first pick after the volunteer bookroom supervisor sorts and prices specialty items.
• MUSIC ROOM – Do you love all kinds of music? Do you like to organize music into categories and alphabetize? Help needed to keep the music room neat and organized! Work with great people! It would be great if you were available for a couple of hours on Monday and/or Tuesday, but any day is great!
• DATA ENTRY – We need one or two people to enter data into several databases on a regular basis to help us maintain our records.
• Electronics RoomVolunteer(s) needed. We need several volunteers to help in the electronics department, testing computers, TVs, stereos, turntables, etc… when they come in and making sure they are in salable condition. Contact Cindy at 353-8890 if you have experience working with electronics and are interested in volunteering.
  

If you are interested in any of these opportunities or have an idea of a different way you can help us, please contact Cindy at 350-0878 or email DTNewsletter@aol.com.