Imagine that you are visiting Two Bridges Regional Jail to pay bail for your brother. You’ve never been there before. When you walk in, you are in a room full of two-way mirrors, and there is not a human being to be seen. You don’t know where to go, or what buzzer to ring. What is already a difficult situation is made worse by the complete lack of human contact.

The jail is looking for volunteers to help meet this need.

Because of a nine-percent decrease in funding by the state, the jail has had to lay off full- and part-time people who used to answer the bell, greet bewildered visitors, answer the phones, and more.

“We had to save our money for guards’ salaries,” Mark Westrum, administrator of the jail, said. “So we’re hoping people will step up and help us deal with some of these other issues.”

Those issues include just being a friendly face to help relatives and friends negotiate the jail system, to bail someone out, put money on someone’s account, or find out how to call an inmate in an emergency.

But Westrum also needs people to help with other tasks, including answering the phone or doorbell, calling service agencies to help place inmates in step-down programs, organize volunteers, and more. Volunteers would have no contact with inmates.

If interested, contact Westrum at (207) 882-2609 or at mwestrum@tbrj.org.