Prior to the pandemic, Meet Belmont connected Belmont residents with volunteer opportunities and organizations. Now the event will return this fall after being dormant for seven years.
The latest iteration of Meet Belmont will take place Oct. 19 and will host 41 volunteer and civil service groups and committees, including Town Meeting, all the parent-teacher groups, and the police department. Select Board Chair Taylor Yates approached the recreation office this summer with an idea to revive the Belmont community tradition.
“It is an outgrowth of something I’ve been working on all year, which is looking for scalable ways to recruit more volunteers,” Yates said.
Brandon Fitts, director of recreation, conducted outreach to volunteers and organized the event. He imagined the evening as something similar to a new student orientation at college.
“So when you first get there … and all the clubs and fraternities and sports organizations and intramurals have tables set up, and you walk through the student center, and you figure out all the things you want to sign up for, it’s basically that for volunteerism in Belmont,” Fitts said.
Meet Belmont is dedicated to helping residents connect with volunteer opportunities and put faces to the names they hear and read about in Belmont. It furthers Yates’ hope to maximize the impact of volunteering in Belmont and make volunteering easier. Over the last year, Yates and the Select Board have streamlined how people discover and apply for volunteer opportunities. Meet Belmont is the latest in the effort to connect people and opportunities as seamlessly as possible.
“I think it’s just always good for people to be able to participate in their government and for us to draw on the really deep talent pool that we have in Belmont to serve our residents,” Yates said.
Still, this year’s event might look different from the version before COVID. Town Moderator Adam Dash remembers kids running between the rows of tables, swiping candy and swag off them as they went. Dash said he hopes families will still bring their kids, even if the event has moved from Chenery’s cafeteria to the Beech Street Center.
The new group putting the event together also knows it’s been years since anyone offered the event.
“We’re a little rusty after not doing this for, you know, five to seven years,” Yates said. Fitts agreed. This year’s event might involve some trial and error, Fitts said.
For Yates, Meet Belmont is an opportunity for residents to get excited about volunteering by meeting new people and learning what different town committees and organizations do.
“I want people to come and see all the hard work our staff and volunteers are doing on behalf of residents, and hopefully feel inspired to dive in,” Yates said.
Meet Belmont will take place Monday, Oct. 19, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Beech Street Center.
