MADD Southern Arizona Volunteer Information

Looking For A Few Good Hands….

MADD facilitates a court-appointed Victim Impact Panel (VIP)  for first and second time DUI Offenders. These panels are also recommended by probation officers, school and community justice boards for drug, juvenile and other offenders that might benefit. A Victim Impact Panel consists of a rotating panel of victim speakers, offenders, prosecutors, law enforcement… etc. speaking about the personal side of impaired driving. Each panel runs 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. and all volunteers are invited to enjoy a “wind-down” meal afterwards where we read the evaluation sheets and critique the meeting.

Our office started with once a month classes with an average attendance of 35-40 offenders. This quickly grew to 15 classes a year held in the Marshall Auditorium in TMC with an average monthly attendance of 180 clients and visitors. Just over two years ago, we added 12 monthly classes at an additional location near Irvington and 6th Avenue and another at Miracle Mile and Flowing Wells.  In an effort to cover more of Pima County, we recently expanded the Victim Impact Panel to Green Valley adding six classes held every other month.  We have also added a VIP on the Tohono O’odham Nation and Florence, as well as bi-monthly panels at locations in Sierra Vista and Nogales.  Soon, we will have a panel every other month in Yuma as well, bringing us to a total of facilitating 62 panels a year throughout Southern Arizona.

We are always looking for volunteers in various areas of Southern Arizona to assist with our VIPs in the areas of helping register class attendees, collecting class payments, issuing class evaluations and handing out certificates to those who've completed the panels.  If you are a victim of drunk driving or know someone who has been affected by this violent crime, there is also an opportunity to become one of our volunteer guest speakers at our panels.  If you are interested in becoming a Victim Impact Panel volunteer, please contact Theresa Ulibarri, Victim Advocate at theresa.ulibarri@madd.org.

You can see from the works that are described in the various areas of interest of MADD that there is far more work than can be carried out by the staff by themselves. As with most organizations of this type, a reliance is placed on volunteers to assist the staff to carry out these works and MADD has been fortunate in this regard to date.

Unfortunately the workload remains high and more volunteers are needed to assist MADD in its assistance to victims of this violent crime and to fight for justice in the judicial system. All volunteers are welcome - you can volunteer now by simply contacting the MADD Office and asking for a Volunteer form at pima.az@madd.org

Come and join us! This is one of the times that you CAN make a difference!