VOLUNTEERS UNITE, COORDINATE EFFORTS.

Byline: Sonia Giordani Daily News Staff Writer

It was nearly a decade ago that former President Bush presented his vision of a thousand points of light - a plan to promote volunteerism and encourage people across the country to engage in community service.

Now about a dozen dedicated community volunteers in Thousand Oaks have come together in the last month to bring Bush's national vision to the local level and establish a clearinghouse for community service opportunities here in town.

``I went to a few national conferences, and I brought the idea back to a group of people in Thousand Oaks and we said, yes, let's go for it,'' said Eleanor Roche, chairwoman of the newly formed Connect Thousand Oaks Council of Nonprofits.

``I think all across the country, cities just need a little boost to get going,'' said Roche, a 25-year Thousand Oaks resident.

Roche said she has been volunteering all her life. These days she averages about eight to 10 hours each week at Conejo Valley Senior Concerns, at the American Heart Association and at the Conejo Valley Historical Society.

Like other members of the new council, Roche hopes to make that kind of volunteerism more accessible to local residents. She hopes to expand the network to include the more than 200 nonprofit groups in and around Thousand Oaks.

About 40 representatives of area agencies attended the council's first meeting Oct. 8., forming a steering committee, electing Roche as their leader and starting to brainstorm.

Within hours they had a conceptual mission statement - to increase community awareness and coordinate information on volunteer service opportunities. Then they started mapping out some top goals.

Among the top priorities were building alliances between agencies, offering training sessions to members of nonprofit boards of directors and inviting members of the corporate community to set up volunteer programs for their employees.

But for now, the group's first goal is building and maintaining a master calendar - a centralized list of all the local nonprofits and the dates of their community events and fund-raisers.

``For all the work that goes into planning a big event or fund-raiser, you'd really like it to be an individual event that draws as many people as possible. You'd hate to have to share that date,'' said Karen Chellevold, director of the volunteer program at Los Robles Hospital and a member of the new council.

Several years ago, a small group of volunteers set out to maintain a calendar and to establish an informal network of nonprofits. That plan fizzled out.

Chellevold said groups often forgot to check the calendar before organizing their own events or failed to update the calendar and submit notice of the events they were planning.

``It was a matter of everybody doing their own job to take on this responsibility. It's not easy,'' she said, adding that the city has made an immeasurable contribution to the effort by stepping forward to help jump-start a comprehensive network of nonprofits.

Councilwoman Judy Lazar, former executive director of Senior Concerns, first brought the idea before the City Council, and in July the five-member governing body unanimously voted to establish a Council of Nonprofits with the city staff's support.

Carol Williams, special programs manager with the City Manager's Office, said the city often gets inquiries from residents about where they can go for community service.

``We'd like to be able to keep a list of organizations and their needs so that residents would know which organizations to go to, the contact person, a calendar of events,'' Williams said.

But part of the challenge facing the council is sustaining what they start. Roche said one of the top goals will be to develop a community Web site where anyone can link and learn about local volunteering needs.

Louise Danielle coordinates volunteer recruitment for Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, a volunteer program for residents ages 55 and up. She said a Web site would be a great resource to link potential volunteers of all ages, particularly young people, to the right agencies that need their help.

``We have a lot of volunteer opportunities for people in that age group, but it would seem we don't have much available for the age group below that. We really don't have a place where any resident can go and sign up,'' Danielle said.

She said she often finds herself helping to find volunteer opportunities for area youths who need to fulfill community service requirements they need to graduate from high school.

``I try to help, but it's hard because there's a real need for more information. For instance, I'm not really aware of too many after-school volunteer opportunities that would be good for kids,'' Danielle said.

The Council of Nonprofits plans to hold regular meetings each month, slowly building the member list and calendar of events. And the group still needs to organize itself in terms of where they might locate and how they will maintain an identity in the community.

``Right now, we're just trying to pull it together. We're going very slowly so we don't leave anybody out,'' Roche said. ``It might take a few years to get it up and running. You know, you can't just jump in and expect to be perfect within a few weeks.''