Taylor Dailing and Kelly Weber share a love of giving back to the community. It’s what brought them together as students at Mizzou, volunteering with the Suicide Prevention Coalition. Each woman had a friend who’d died by suicide, and being the doers that they are, the pair got involved. Though they worked together for three years, they left college as acquaintances, reconnecting in St. Louis when Dailing reached out to Weber for social media help. They realized that they had similar aspirations and decided to join their talents. The result: STL Serves, a website and Facebook group prioritizing connection and community with St. Louis nonprofits and volunteers. On stlserves.com, more than 250 volunteering opportunities are organized by category: animals, education, LGBTQIA+, veterans… After selecting a category, users are taken to a page that lists all of the organizations, with options for volunteering, donating, and getting more details. “I think it’s innate in most people that they want to do good,” Weber says. “They just need help figuring out how to do it, because everyone’s busy. We’re trying to make it simple, a no-brainer for people.”
On the origins of STL Serves: “When I moved back to St. Louis, last May, I wanted to start volunteering again, but it was hard to connect with anybody. I ended up at St. Patrick Center after a long search,” Dailing says. “I love that place and am thankful the process led me there, but it was hard. This gave me the idea to start a website where all the volunteer opportunities in the city are organized into easily searchable categories. I think there are a lot of people out there who are like I was several months ago.”
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On creating community: Weber says, “We want to increase exposure to volunteer opportunities and build a community of supportive people. That’s the purpose of it: It’s deeper than just a website. We want our Facebook group to be a space where you can go and ask others about volunteering with a certain organization. I would love for people to find others to go volunteer with.”
On a new night out: “We created a calendar where you can find options for going out besides just going to dinner,” Weber recalls. “In May, I went to a bingo night for Cornerstone, and there was something about going out and supporting that organization that made me want to get more involved.”
On family bonding: “We were recently asked about holiday volunteering, and we realized what a great idea it is for families to get together and give back,” Dailing says. “We’re hoping more people will use the calendar to search for activities to do with your family.”
On the value of community: “I feel like St. Louis is on the brink of a lot of good change,” Weber says. “Getting involved gives people a clear perspective on the city. It’s easy to become complacent, but there’s power in getting involved with the important stuff that’s going on in your community. ”
