When Community Dining Room (CDR) needed a last-minute substitute to fill a home delivery route last week, SARAH vocational volunteers and their job coach stepped up to pinch-hit.

That's just one example among many Courtney Rosenberg, CDR's Volunteer Coordinator, can give when it comes to describing how CDR vocational volunteers are making a difference at this Branford-based non-profit.

Assisted by job coaches from their agencies, a growing number of CDR vocational volunteers are gaining skills that will help them lock in jobs while lending a helpful hand in the kitchen, dining room and with meal deliveries out in the community.

Currently, CDR is receiving volunteer assistance from groups including those aged 18 to 21 in North Branford Public Schools School-to-Work program, from young adults in Branford Public School's school-to-work transition program, from Branford High School Special Education students (grades 9 -12), young adults from non-profit Roses for Autism and two groups of adults and young adults with the non-profit SARAH family of agencies. CDR also coordinates volunteers arriving through local services which develop employment opportunities for people living with a disability, such as Southeastern Employment Services LLC.

Located in the Patricia C. Andriole Volunteer Services Center at 30 Harrison Avenue, CDR serves over 4,500 meals each month. The meals include hot lunch served daily in the dining room; multi-day home delivery programs to Branford and North Branford residents, an evening family dinner weekly, and weekly take-out dinners. CDR serves residents in need from East Haven to Old Saybrook.

To provide its many services, Rosenberg has built up an active roster of 150 volunteers. On days when the kitchen is providing hot lunches for the dining room, packing meals for delivery routes and preparing take-out dinners, "...we'll need as many as 20 people to help, just in the kitchen," said Rosenberg.

On any given day, vocational volunteers are in the mix at CDR, said Executive Director Judy Barron.

"It's become a key component for us," said Barron "We're thankful for them; and for them coming in and considering wanting to volunteer with us. It's a great opportunity for these individuals to get some training in the work field to help them find gainful employment later on. But I don't think they even realize what they're giving back to us. What we're getting back is ten times greater than what we're giving them."

SARAH has the longest connection of volunteer service to CDR, going back at least 20 years, said Barron. One of the SARAH groups now assists three days a week to CDR; coached for the past two years by SARAH Employment Specialist Jeff Roche.

"We started with just Thursdays, doing meal deliveries, and bringing in food deliveries from Bishops Orchards," said Roche. "This is one of their favorite job sites, because [CDR] makes them feel they are one with the rest of the volunteers. So they get an experience of what it's like to build those relationships and take on those responsibilities."

About six months ago, Roche's SARAH group took on even more responsibility: helping out in the kitchen. Now, in addition to covering a delivery route on Thursdays, the SARAH team comes in on Mondays and Fridays to pitch in at CDR.

Rosenberg said CDR staff, other volunteers, diners, donors and others who come in contact with the vocational volunteers are always welcoming and supportive.

"I've noticed the same response from everyone. When they see we have volunteers with special needs come in, the response is so overwhelmingly good," said Rosenberg.

Rosenberg said blending vocational volunteers into the kitchen crew is seamless, thanks in no small part to CDR Kitchen Coordinator Mary Johnston. Johnston meets with job coaches to review the steps needed for volunteer jobs ranging from stocking inventory to dish washing and dining service and other opportunities. CDR also tries to customize work to meet volunteer needs.

"If their job coach has an idea of what their employment will be down the road, they'll plan it with Mary so those tasks are a little more oriented toward those skills," said Rosenberg. "The job coaches also get to know routine; and they know their volunteers, so they get a sense of the tasks that will work for them."

With Roche helping the SARAH team to learn the ropes, Rosenberg said growth in their volunteer kitchen roles has been exponential.

"They all started out at the dishwashing position. Now, [volunteer] Marcie [Labucki] is helping with take-out dinners – she stands at the back door, and when someone rings that doorbell [for pick-up], she's got it. That's her job, and she takes it very seriously," said Rosenberg. "One of the other girls recently expressed an interest in serving; and now, she's one of our servers."

Roche said another way the CDR volunteer work is helping his team is by giving them the confidence to teach one another what they've learned.

"Today, we're going to be washing the dishes for the kitchen. It gets very busy, and during that time, we are going to have two guys that are going to be training each other on their jobs. So next week, they're going to be switching jobs, based on what they've learned from each other," said Roche.

Roche said CDR's volunteer options are a neat fit to a unique pilot employment training program underway now at SARAH.

"We're also working on giving them skills like how to fill out an application, computer skills, as well as finding volunteer experiences," to help build a resume, said Roche. "The whole purpose of what we do here is to have a structure. How do we take them from having no vocational skills at all; how do we get them workforce-ready?"

Because of the ties many volunteers forge with the staff at CDR, Barron said she sometimes gets word from past vocational volunteers that they've gone on to gain employment, including one young man who went on to work with a local Big Y supermarket.

"We're so proud of him. He spent a lot of time training and retraining here to get those skills," said Barron.

Barron has been working not only to open the doors of CDR to vocational volunteers, but to become an organization that can also offer them job opportunities. In 2016, she asked the CDR Board of Directors to implement a paid part-time service position at CDR to offer to a vocational volunteer. The idea was approved.

"It ran for about two years, and we had three different individuals employed through it," said Barron. "It's currently on hold due to budget cut-backs, but I'm hoping to discover a grant that will allow me to bring it back in the coming year. To be able to get one of those students to come in, and go from being a volunteer to getting a paycheck, is so fulfilling."

For more information about CDR visit www.communitydiningroom.org