The number of cases handled by the staff and volunteers at the State College AIDS Project has nearly doubled in the past three months, and that trend is expected to continue.

To keep up with the increased demand for services, the Project will need new volunteers, said Meg Davis, case manager and volunteer coordinator of the AIDS Project.

"We're pretty desperately in need of peer educators right now," she said.

The Project is staffed by three full-time employees and 80 volunteers, including 23 who have completed training as peer educators, buddies and phone-line volunteers.

They also run a hotline Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. to answer any questions relating to AIDS.

Monica Rodriguez (senior-psychology), a peer educator at the AIDS Project, found out about volunteering through the University's Sexual Health Awareness Resource Program, where she is also a peer educator.

"There are a lot more opportunities for me to help AIDS patients (at the Project)," Rodriguez said. "SHARP deals with all different kinds of problems and we're not as likely to deal with AIDS."

Because most of the volunteers are students, the turnover rate is high since many find themselves too busy to return the next semester, Davis said.

"We're about five or 10 phone-line volunteers below what we really need," she said.

Davis said people from all walks of life will be accepted as volunteers, though the Project particularly needs men willing to be peer educators.

"The reality is (that) the high risk group is gay men," she added.

Davis said volunteers should call the AIDS Project at 234-7087 to apply and set up an interview before March 30, though volunteers will be taken until April 9.

Rodriguez said training involves two stages: the first is general training needed just to volunteer in the office, the second is more formal training for peer education and phone-line volunteers.

Peer education is geared toward the individual.

"We do our education on the grass roots level, talking to friends in more informal situations," Rodriguez said.

Many people do not think they are at risk or are afraid to go to a formal program to seek information, she added.

"A lot of people don't think they are at risk and won't go to a program," she said.

"It's a lot easier to hear it from someone your own age who knows what you're going through," she said. "That's why it is important to have peer educators of all ages and from all walks of life."

Rodriguez stressed inaccurate information about AIDS is often passed between friends.

"I have been trained with accurate information and I can give that to my friends," she said. "They are hearing the truth from a friend and I think that is vital.

Volunteering benefits not only others but the volunteer -- with practical job experience and a feeling of accomplishment, Rodriguez said.

"Through peer education, you learn a lot about yourself and a lot about interacting with different groups of people, which forces you to deal with things you might not deal with in your own life," Rodriguez said, adding, "It also gives you practical job experience."

It makes the lives' of the people I come in contact with a little easier by my offering support, education and information," she said.

"I think that it is very important -- sharing the education and experience that I have had to help somebody else," she said.

Davis and Bob Kuzma, education director of the Project, will teach a training seminar for new volunteers beginning April 9. The classes will be held five consecutive Monday evenings from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at St. Andrews Church, 208 W. Foster Ave.