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How To Help

Volunteer

Volunteering with CISS

There are many ways to support the mission of CISS. Some simple things to do are to collect our "Top Need" items and bring them to the shelter or come down and help serve lunch. Volunteers can help on big projects, serve on committees, or help with daily needs either on a regular basis or once in a while.

Take a peek at our Events Calendar for upcoming meal serving opportunities. Any date that does not have a group listed to serve the meal is available for sign up.

Want to volunteer? Please fill out our volunteer application here or check out our opportunities below and contact Sadie Nymeyer at snymeyer@centraliowashelter.org or (515) 280-2988 if you have any questions.

Regular Volunteer Needs

  • Lunch Serve Volunteers

    If you are interested in serving lunch with us, find an open date that works for your group of 5-10 people, and contact Sadie Nymeyer at snymeyer@centraliowashelter.org or (515) 280-2988 to reserve your date. All lunch meals are prepared by our kitchen staff and served by a volunteer group. We ask that groups plan to be here from 11:00am - 1:00pm with lunch service running from 11:30am - 12:30pm.

  • To sign up to serve evening meals with CISS, please email Sadie Nymeyer at snymeyer@centraliowashelter.org or call (515) 280-2988. For more information and meal suggestions for evening meals see below.

We recognize that many volunteers come to us with special skills or interests. If you would like to share those skills or interests with CISS, either directly with our clients or indirectly to impact the organization, we can design a volunteer opportunity based on your specific skills. For example, skilled volunteers from Emergency Management Planners, Integrated Resources Corporation, and Johnson Communications have been giving back to CISS using their IT skills and helping our team transition to more effective technology. 

The team at CISS is participating in a training offered by Volunteer Iowa and Points of Light to become a Service Enterprise organization, which means we are creating more ways to leverage our volunteers to better help us achieve our mission. With certification as our goal, we are energized and excited to revamp our volunteer programming and connect our volunteers with opportunities to truly make an impact on our clients. Visit Volunteer Iowa to learn more about the Service Enterprise Initiative.

Our Impact This Year

  • Number of People Served This Year

    2,323

  • Lbs harvested from Mulberry Farms & Food This Year

    10,228

© 2023 Central Iowa Shelter & Services