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Often volunteer positions open a wide window to learning opportunities you might not have considered previously. Our June station focus will provide just such an interesting view of history. The AMERICAN WIND POWER CENTER is an educational facility for the historic preservation of the American water-pumping windmill. The windmill was responsible for the settlement of the American Great Plains. Before the coming of the windmill, this part of the country was called the Great American Desert. It was the windmill, more than any other invention that helped to settle the West. The windmill gave railroads access to underground water, permitted ranchers to fence and selectively breed cattle, and allowed farmers to live on land where there were no rivers, streams or lakes. Prior to 1920, tens of thousands of windmills were erected across the Great Plains, but the only windmills left from that period are the ones that survived the great scrap metal drives of both world wars. Many of the rarest of these are housed indoors at the center, while others are displayed in the Linebery Windmill Park on towers with tanks and pumps. Currently there are 80 windmills on exhibit and over 200 in the entire collection with more continuously being acquired and restored. The American Wind Power Center is conceived to become the most comprehensive public collection of historic windmills in the world.

Approximately 10,000 walk up visitors a year tour the museum. People from 20 foreign countries and all 50 states have toured the facility. In addition to these visitors, the educational programs at the center are extended to 80 area schools. Needless to say, the work of the American Wind Power Center is largely accomplished by volunteers. All volunteers are thoroughly trained by the center staff for the job they choose to do. There are jobs for those who would like to work outside or inside, alone or with others, with their hands or with their minds. The Museum Store Volunteer/Greeters would welcome visitors, help them to find gifts or souvenirs in the store and ring up their purchases. Museum Tour Guides would be educated about the artifacts and the history of the center’s exhibits to enable them to give a guided tour to small groups. Grounds Volunteers would provide general maintenance for the grounds, gardening or light museum maintenance.

The Center’s extensive windmill collection honors those early settlers who struggled with difficult conditions tempered with the life-giving water pumped by the windmill. Won’t you help bring West Texas’ history alive by volunteering your time and interest at the American Wind Power Center?

OTHER VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:

YWCA BREAST AND CERVICAL HEALTH INITIATIVE, 34th and Flint, would appreciate a lady with good organizational skills to send letters to patients needing follow up information and also reminder cards to women needing to come in for their annual mammograms. Some telephone and intake work might be needed too, if you would like. So much suffering can be alleviated with early diagnosis and therapy. You can be the link a patient needs to keep as healthy as possible. The YWCA is a great place to volunteer!

VOLUNTEERS AGED 65 TO 75 ARE NEEDED FOR SIMPLE RESEARCH STUDY to see how well people can control their leg movements. A physical therapist is studying new ways to measure recovery from knee injuries and knee surgery, but she needs healthy people to measure first. Men and women between the ages of 65 and 75 will be asked to perform simple activities with their legs. Prior to the study, you will complete a consent form, a brief medical history form and a questionnaire regarding your daily activities. During the study you will sit in front of a computer monitor with a mall sensor placed on your right shin and be asked to do a series of simple tasks by straightening and bending your right knee. The study requires 45 to 60 minutes to complete and all results are strictly confidential. Volunteers will come to the easy-to-find Texas Tech University Psychology Building after 5:00 p.m. or on a weekend when parking is easily accessible. This valuable research may be something that can help you or a family member in the future, so how about helping out now? 

HOW do I join RSVP?
Becoming a member of RSVP is simple as long as you are at least 55 and have some time to volunteer. Just call the office at 742-2423 and chat with Ronda Casey or Bonne Phillips about your interests. If you are not certain what you would like to do, we can mention several current volunteer opportunities and send you a list of the sort of jobs which RSVP members are presently doing to whet your appetite. If you have a special skill or talent that you would like to utilize, we will search to find just the right job for you. Just mail in the enrollment form (requires Adobe Reader) and we will call you!