Get involved with Operation Fresh Start!
There are three main ways to volunteer with OFS:

1. Tutoring and mentoring.
2. Working on an OFS housing site.
3. Participating in a volunteer event.

Volunteer to tutor or mentor a young person:
OFS participants are young people, ages 16-24, who benefit from the help of positive adult role models and classroom tutors. If you have a couple hours a week and would like to make a difference in a young person's life, please contact Ashley Thompson at 608-244-4721 or email her at athompson@operationfreshstart.org to talk about the opportunities for volunteering at OFS.

Volunteer to work on an OFS housing site:
OFS relies upon the help of volunteers to build affordable housing. Typically, volunteers are scheduled to help out on designated volunteer workdays, which are scheduled during the summer and early fall. If you would like to contribute to the effort to bring another affordable house on-line, please contact Ashley Thompson at 608-244-4721 or e-mail athompson@operationfreshstart.org.

Volunteer with co-workers or a community group:
Every year, OFS teams up with local businesses, institutions, and organizations to put together large-scale volunteer events. Here are some highlights from 2009:

• -- Volunteers from Cuna Mutual Credit Union spent two days during the summer of 2009 landscaping yards for OFS. The volunteers, who were all summer interns at Cuna, helped improve the curb-appeal of two homes that had recently been completed by Operation Fresh Start participants. They pushed dirt, spread grass seed, mulched, planted, weeded, and raked, but most importantly, they all had a blast. Thanks to volunteer efforts like this one, Operation Fresh Start can build and sell nearly ten homes a year.
• -- During the United Way's Days of Caring '09, Volunteers from Summit Credit Union and J.H. Findorff & Son Inc. helped OFS hang drywall in a new home. This marks the 15th consecutive year that Operation Fresh Start has participated in the Days of Caring - the United Way's largest annual volunteer event - which means that over 100 United Way volunteers have had their hand in the completion of 15 OFS homes. Needless to say, we are very grateful for the support that our community provides.
• -- Business bankers from a local Wells Fargo branch laced up their work boots and helped OFS build a roof. The volunteers assisted Tom Stout and his crew as they built their garage and set the trusses on one of our new Green Built homes.