OCEAN CITY – For most of Frankie Knight’s life, she’s been going to local events and fundraisers with her Ocean City council member mother, Mary, and her father, Frank, a retired local dentist.

She says she often quietly asked herself the same question over and over: “where are all the young people?”

Knight, now 27, is trying to energize and inspire a new generation of philanthropists and volunteers in a community that has long boasted and prided itself on its involvement in such efforts and organizations.

“This community is very giving, and the core group of representatives that have carried these organizations have been doing it for a long time,” said Knight, “but it’s time we get younger people involved, and help connect young people with the organizations that need them.”

On Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 6:30 p.m., Knight will hold the first informal gathering of her Millennial Volunteer Network at the Art League of Ocean City Building on 94^th Street.

The goal is to get a handful of local non-profit organizations together in the same room with young people in the community who are willing and able to volunteer and get involved.

“Frankie called me and told me about the idea, and I thought it was fantastic;” said Rina Thaler, president of the Art League of Ocean City. “I thought that it would be great for not only the Art League, but also so many other organizations in the community who need young people to step up and get involved.”

Knight says it will be a casual gathering where organizations can talk to young millennials about their efforts and needs and essentially make connections with people who could help with future events.

“I don’t want people to walk in and feel like they are in a meeting,” said Knight. “It’s very non-committal. Young people want to get involved, but they don’t know whom to speak with or how to do it. If you get people involved at a young age, those people will consistently be involved and donating to an organizations’ mission and cause for years to come.”

Thaler says this is an important moment for the non-profit community to realize that it needs to be thinking ahead.

“The Art League has been in Ocean City since 1963, and while we are going strong, we don’t have the same people volunteering and being involved as we did 50 years ago,” said Thaler. “This is a way to sort of find the next generation of philanthropists and volunteers to pass the torch onto. All these groups in the area have small staffs and you need young volunteers and members to bring that fresh energy that’s needed to pull these missions and events off.”

Knight currently serves on four advisory boards in the town, including the Seasonal Workforce Committee and the Cultural Arts Advisory Board at the Convention Center. She is the youngest members of all four of those committees by a number of years.

“Getting involved helps people get rooted in our community, and it will encourage them to stay here,” said Knight, “but if you want them to stay here, we have to find ways to give them a purpose by getting them involved.”

Knight says she is not trying to force philanthropy down millennials throats, but rather, help to connect young folks with causes and organizations that may interest them.

“If you are into the arts, or helping children, or the poor, there are organizations that need you and if you have a skillset like catering or bartending, they need you, too,” she said.

According to Thaler, millennials also bring a fresh perspective when it comes to marketing fundraising or community events, especially with their penchant for interaction on social media platforms that the older generations haven’t mastered quite as well.

“I think millennials get involved in this kind of work for different reasons than perhaps older folks do,” she said. “They want to have a good time, but also help a good cause. They are interested in social connection with real people because so much of their lives have become a bit disconnected due to social media with folks in their communities.”

Knight hopes to have more than 10 non-profits organizations and at least 100 millennials at the event, which will include light refreshments and live music.

As you might imagine, there’s a Facebook event page that has been created at https://www.facebook.com/events/1175090782505507/