Program pairs high-risk residents with low-risk volunteers to help them

Modeled after similar volunteer match programs in Louisville and in Elizabethtown, an online COVID-19 Community Action Center for Bowling Green and Warren County launched Thursday.

Using geographic information systems (GIS) to help find and arrange matches between elder or high-risk residents requesting assistance and low-risk volunteers who can help, this project is a collaboration between Western Kentucky University geography staff and students, the City of Bowling Green, Warren County government and the Warren County Sheriff’s Office.

The website is a place where residents of Warren County can request a volunteer or sign up to be a volunteer for a neighbor who is self-isolating during this time of social distancing.  Businesses and organizations can also use the site to offer resources or recruit volunteers for COVID-19 relief work they are doing.

The Warren County Sheriff’s Office will review driver’s licenses of all potential volunteers, and volunteers will receive a short training to make sure they are healthy and practicing social distancing for very low contact or no contact deliveries.  This project has been developed in consultation with United Way 2-1-1, BRADD Aging Services, Warren County Emergency Management, and other partners.  Bowling Green Coalition of Active Neighborhoods (BGCAN) and Age Friendly BG volunteers are also contributing to the project.

To request a volunteer match or to sign up as a volunteer, visit the website linked from the City’s Coronavirus Response Page at www.bgky.org/coronavirus or access it directly at http://www.warrencountyky.gov/covid19.php

For more information about the program, contact Neighborhood Services Coordinator Karen Foley by email at karen.foley@bgky.org or call 270.393.3674.