Volunteer Center of the Lehigh Valley

Improve the quality of life and assist in the rehabilitation and support of referred adults receiving mental health care. Compeer's primary goal is to match adult volunteers with "friends" who live with chronic mental illness. These friendships provide a recovery path that enables the Compeer friend to leave behind the isolation and loneliness that are so often the result of mental illness.

Description:
Compeer volunteers are asked to spend one hour a week with their friend, sharing activities that they decide on together, and at days and times they agree upon. Volunteers and friends are matched by gender, age, interests, and geographic location. Compeer of the Lehigh Valley serves clients in Lehigh and Northampton Counties. Volunteers are provided with four hours of training prior to meeting with their friends and are supported by Compeer staff throughout the volunteer experience. Many of our matches go on to become "true friendships." Some of these folks have remained with our program for over ten years. Others have told us, "We're really just friends now. We don't need Compeer." We view both of these types of friendships as true success stories!

Contact people:

Casey Garrett, Director, Warmline & Compeer, (phone), (email) William Vogler, Executive Director, (phone), (email)

Address:

411 Walnut St Allentown, PA 18102 (See a map)

Miscellaneous Information

Here are our special events...
	Training for New Volunteers-- Saturday, April 28, 2007; Annual Picnic -- May 12, 2007
Number of clients/community members we serve in a year...
	100
Number of volunteers utilized in a year...
	30