A local center committed to helping survivors of sexual assault is in need of volunteers in order to continue serving the Ames community efficiently.

Sixty-two percent of American women are physically assaulted at least once in their lifetime, and a rape is committed every two minutes, according to the Assault Care Center Extending Shelter and Support Agency of Ames (ACCESS) brochure.

For the interns, volunteers and staff of ACCESS, these percentages and probabilities become reality.

“It’s opened my eyes a lot to what other people have to deal with, and that life isn’t always so perfect,” said Kelsie Dolney, volunteer at ACCESS and sophomore in psychology. “I’m not so closed-minded as I used to be, and I’m more comfortable talking to people in harder and more difficult situations.”

ACCESS offers 24-hour confidential help for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence, said Julie Wooden, assistant director of ACCESS. In order for the shelter to be available to help clients full-time, volunteers are necessary, she said.

“As an agency, we rely heavily on volunteers to staff the shelter,” Wooden said. “The shelter never closes, and [volunteers] help provide assistance in keeping it open. Volunteers play a huge and important part, because of the number of hours they work and the services they provide.”

Wooden said ACCESS is currently seeking volunteers to staff the domestic violence shelter, interact with women and children and answer crisis line phone calls. Ninety-five percent of the volunteers on staff are ISU students; most volunteer because they like to help people and are interested in the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault, she said.

“We also have a lot of students who do an internship or practicum and have the ability to get academic credit,” Wooden said.

Interested volunteers, as well as ACCESS staff and interns, are required to attend advocate training from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 20 and 21 and Sept. 27 and 28. The state of Iowa requires 20 hours of training to be a certified victim advocate, and because ACCESS covers both domestic violence and sexual assault, the agency itself requires 32 hours, Wooden said.

The Ames Police Department, ISU Police, ISU Student Health, Story County Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) and Lutheran Social Services are local agencies involved in the four-day training, according to the ACCESS Web site, www.assaultcarecenter.org.

Wooden said training covers the basics of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and the day-to-day operations of the shelter.

Story County SART will present a one-hour panel at the training session with a police officer, nurse and advocate who will talk about their roles in responding to sexual assault survivors, said Heather Priess, Story County SART coordinator.

Priess said it is important for people to volunteer at ACCESS, not only to develop individually, but also to help the care center.

“Organizations like ACCESS are like many nonprofit organizations that play a really important function in our communities,” Priess said. “They really don’t have a lot of resources, so they have to rely on volunteers.”

Trained advocate volunteers can either work a four-hour shelter shift once a week or they can carry beepers so ACCESS staff can contact them when their assistance is needed, Wooden said.

She said there are other options for getting involved with ACCESS. Volunteers can do office work or indirect service, which does not require training.

“If we have somebody who wants to help, we certainly will do our best to not turn them away,” Wooden said.

For Dolney, being an ACCESS volunteer does not just mean experience for her major, but experience for life.

“[It’s rewarding] the way the clients appreciate everything you do for them, like when they’re having a hard time and you just sit and talk with them. When they leave, you can just see a smile on their face,” Dolney said. “It is just so rewarding to help people.”