Director of Youth Darren Turnquest revealed that while hundreds of people signed up for the government's Volunteer Bahamas program, the Ministry of Youth Sports, and Culture had to weed out a number of individuals from the list.
"We had probably at the beginning of Volunteer Bahamas, a larger number of volunteers," Turnquest said yesterday.
"But what we did here in the ministry was we went through the entire listing.  We found that individuals thought volunteerism was a hired job, that it was a paid opportunity, and so we've had to take them off of our list."
"Now when you look at that number it is a clear cut number of serious individuals who are willing and able to volunteer and put their expertise to work."
Turnquest said there are roughly 650 volunteers involved, with 150 of them deployed to various organizations.
"What has been a major challenge is that organizations have mentioned that 'yeah we want volunteers, we're excited to get volunteers', and then when they come into the office what we try to explain to them is that you have to make certain that you understand what you want the volunteers to do, so that when these volunteers come, there is a plan in place on how you are going to be a able to utilize them," he said.
He noted the ministry is also looking for organizations who deal with animals.
"We have about 20-30 persons [who have] been waiting for organizations who deal with animals to register," he said.
Currently there are about 30 organizations signed up for Volunteer Bahamas, something Turnquest hopes to boost.
The ministry will be in Mall at Marathon this weekend to improve the number of volunteers and organizations involved he said.
The first orientation session for participants in the program was held last week Turnquest noted.
Volunteer Bahamas was launched on November 1 and seeks to create safer, healthier and more non-violent communities, as well as to enhance existing community-building initiatives started by churches, charities, clubs and other groups.

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