Hundreds of visitors made their way through the Carroll College PE Center Sunday afternoon learning about ways they can volunteer in the Queen City.

The first annual Step Up to the Plate: Volunteer for Helena Fair was a huge success, organizers say.

Just more than an hour into the event, 200 bags had been handed out, exceeding the goal.

"We didn't know how many people would come out, and this is really exciting," Stephanie Knisley, one of the organizers, said. "Helena is a generous community and this gives them the venue to check it out because it gets everyone in one place."

The goal of the fair was to increase community involvement by showing visitors that everyone can volunteer.

"So much of the point of this fair is to show that volunteers come from all walks of life and of all ages," organizer Marcella Walter said.

Gretchen Hedrick brought her two sons - Monte, 9 and Nathan, 11.

"I've always been interested in volunteering as a family," she said.

After touring the booths, she said the family will consider adopting a plot to help the Benton Avenue Cemetery Association with upkeep of the historic cemetery because they live next door.

Nathan says he volunteered once with a group of kids by pulling weeds and mowing for a local resident.

"Volunteering is important because it helps people out," he said.

Luella Schultz, of Helena, came to the event looking for ways to make her life more fulfilling.

Schultz said her children are grown and her husband passed away, which created a void.

"I need to fulfill that part of me," she said.

Good news for Schultz is that 40 nonprofit organizations were in one venue creating less leg work for her.

"This fair is wonderful," she said.

Schultz left with a bag full of ideas.

Florence Crittenton, a home for pregnant teens, gave passersby a way to volunteer on the spot at the event by making cards of encouragement for its residents. While visitors cut and glued paper, representatives of the home talked about how they need babysitters for weekly group meetings and for special events.

Over at the Friendship Center booth, Claire Waltz talked about her eight years volunteering at the shelter for women and children in domestic violence situations.

Waltz volunteers in a number of ways, from weeding the flower bed to answering phones to helping with mail-outs and sorting donations.

"The people are marvelous there," she said. "It's become a home to me."

Seventeen-year-old Karissa Pigman left with a S.A.V.E. Mobile sticker for her car and the inspiration to help out at the next recycling drive.

After he retired, Art Taylor, 58, needed something to get him out of the house and found his calling with Habitat for Humanity.

"It lets me be the carpenter I always wanted to be," the retired engineer said.

But for Taylor, the volunteer work goes beyond getting to swing a hammer.

"You start out with a bare piece of ground and all of the sudden you've got a house," he said. "The family is out there and all of the sudden they have something that's theirs."

Taylor says he learns something every day he participates.

"There's a whole gamut of stuff - the carpentry is part of it, but you're also learning how to get along with people, how to be a nice person," he said. "These people have got something they've worked for and are just tickled pink. You are helping to give them something they can hold on to."

Taylor said the event is perfect for folks looking for ways to get involved.

"There's probably something out there for everybody, it's just about finding what interests you," he said. "There is something everybody can do, some place, somewhere for somebody."

Alana Listoe: 447-4081 or alana.listoe@helenair.com