Volunteer Sedona & the Verde Valley is hosting its first volunteer fair at the Cottonwood Recreation Center located at 150 S 6th St. on Saturday, October 18, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. This free admission event will showcase 37 area civic organizations and nonprofits that are looking to fill both short term and long volunteer positions
Among the participating organizations are Verde Valley Habitat for Humanity, Project Fill the Need, the Verde Valley Humane Society, Oak Creek School Parent, Teacher Organization and many more.
“When you volunteer, you help others — but you also discover it does something good for you,” VSVV Community Outreach Coordinator Tresa Rose wrote in a press release. “At the Volunteer Fair, you’ll discover where you belong in making a difference.”
Rose, who has been working for VSVV part time since July, is the 501(c)(3)’s first employee since the organization started in September 2024 as part of Manzanita Outreach before becoming independent on January 1.
“She’s highly motivated and she’s well connected in the Verde Valley community with a lot of the nonprofits,” VSVV Founder and Executive Director Spring Cason Graf said about Rose. “She’s very organized [and] detail oriented, and she’s a great person to have on board. … We work together really well.”
VSVV currently has 65 different organizations that it takes volunteer signups for after starting on Jan. 1 with 26 organizations, “it’s been a nice, organic growth,” Graf said.
In the first six months of 2025 Graf said that VSVV has recruited 559 new volunteers for local organizations, and over 1,600 volunteer hours have been logged at over 150 community events.
“We put on the Sedona Volunteer Fair in May, and that was very successful. And then we put on the weekend of service this past January,” Graf said. “Now we’re following up and we’re expanding into the Verde Valley with this volunteer fair. It’s going to be right after the [Walk to End Alzheimer’s] in Cottonwood. So, we’re hoping that those people also come over to see how they would like to volunteer in the community.”
The Walk to End Alzheimer’s starts at 10 a.m. and is looking to raise $146,000 for this year’s event for more information visit act.alz.org.
VSVV is also hosting its second annual Oak Creek Collaborative Cleanup on Saturday Nov, 8 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Slide Rock State Park with 14 different organzations taking part from the Arizona Department of Enviromental Quality, the U.S. Forest Service, the Oak Creek Watershed Council among others.
“The next goal that we have is we’re starting to do groups with hotels, with our groups and concierge desks and that’s going to be our main outreach for 2026,” Graf said about stepping up efforts to direct visitors to the Verde Valley to spend part of their stay contributing to local groups under the banner of “voluntourism” where tourists spend part of their vacations giving back.
“We’re starting to focus on groups. We had a beautiful family reunion of 27 people come this summer and volunteer at Eco Farms,” Graf said. “We had our ‘voluntourist’ amd we had some social media influencers come and do a group event, and they loved doing the volunteer work. They some of them said it was the highlight of their trip to become part of that eco-conscious traveler. We’re starting to have more team building events.”
Additionally Graf said that VSVV is also about to start a funding campaign citing its program costs increasing from its expansion over its first year of operations.
“[But] people should come out to the Verde Valley Volunteer Fair to have fun, to become even a greater part of the community to meet and greet the nonprofits face to face and learn about their missions and learn how they can participate in community,” Graf said.
For more information about any VSVV events or volunteer opportunities across its partner organizations visit vsvv.org.
