A QUICK ONLINE search for nonprofit organizations in Lynchburg that serve the residents of our community will bring up several dozen names on your computer screen. But what if you’re looking for something in the Hill City where humanitarian efforts reach across the globe in addition to around your neighborhood?
That question is what drove Kelley Heelan to discover the organization World Help. Heelan is a graduate of Liberty University who knew early on that God had called her to help others.
“I always wanted to help people around the world, but I thought I had to be around the world to do it,” Heelan explained.
World Help has been headquartered in the Lynchburg area for over 30 years and is a Christian humanitarian aid organization serving the physical and spiritual needs of people in impoverished communities worldwide.
When the job of community engagement coordinator came across Heelan’s desk via Indeed, she jumped at it. Her primary role is to coordinate the scores of volunteers who come to World Help’s distribution center and sort lifesaving supplies such as clothing, shoes, and medical supplies. She considers World Help a hidden gem, because not many people realize they can volunteer locally and be part of an international impact.
Heelan works with individuals, churches, and business groups who volunteer occasionally or on a regular basis. One local business brings its employees to volunteer once a quarter. Many individuals and families volunteer more frequently. Their main role is to sort shipping containers full of new clothing donated by national clothing companies. World Help does not accept used clothing, Heelan added. The sorting, counting, and boxing by volunteers help the organization’s receiving partners spend less time organizing clothing and more time connecting with and distributing the items to those in need.
“I love this job and the mission that drives it. I love that we get to help people every single day,” Heelan pointed out.
When she first took on the coordinator’s role, Heelan went through her contacts from Liberty University to recruit volunteers. She said she poured over lists of students, professors, sports teams, and campus community group leaders, asking for volunteers. Once she finished with those contacts, Heelan began browsing the extensive list of churches and businesses in Lynchburg, encouraging more to connect.
Her efforts have paid off. Since taking the job, Heelan has helped grow World Help’s volunteer program from a few hundred volunteer hours to over 9,000 hours given by community members this past year. Over time, Heelan has seen the ripple effect of families who volunteer. College students bring their parents, and older parents now bring their young children to volunteer.
Heelan’s colleague, Rachel Godwin, proclaimed, “Kelley is one of the friendliest people you will ever meet. She is truly passionate about what she does and loves to help people both locally and globally.”
Recently, two local volunteers visited Guatemala to meet and work with one of World Help’s partners. Heelan said that while unloading boxes of clothing, one of the volunteers saw her handwritten labeling on some of the boxes. She got to see firsthand how her work in Lynchburg directly impacted people in need thousands of miles away. Heelan said that World Help is now discussing offering similar trips in the future.
The World Help warehouse also became a second home for students from the Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine (LUCOM). Heelan said that when LUCOM students come to volunteer, they can relax and unplug from their typically rigorous schedules and the responsibilities of classes, exams, and practicums.
Heelan noted, “It’s a space that is their own.”
Since word has spread and volunteer hours have increased, Heelan said she has been able to step back some from direct recruiting and find new ways to bring World Help’s mission and needs to others. Heelan and her team also added a new system to manage volunteers that makes the work more efficient for the ministry and the volunteers themselves.
World Help’s simple mission of “Help & Hope” goes far beyond recruiting volunteers to sort humanitarian aid. The organization also serves the globe through work with refugees, freedom from the sex work industry, water projects, child sponsorships, church planting, and Bible distribution.
“If you’re passionate about helping others, we want to work with you,” Heelan concluded. GN
