Find out what your family is interested in. Here are a few suggestions:
If you like animals, you can help at your local animal shelter or veterinarian’s office. You may also call your local zoo, theme park, or animal sanctuary for opportunities.
If you enjoy working with children, you may volunteer at a preschool program, summer camp, after-school program, or be a mentor for children at a school. You may also call upon homeless shelters for children, hospitals, and community outreach programs that work with children.
If you like sports, call and visit your local YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, and area schools. Also, do not forget to contact the local sports leagues, such as Little League or soccer.
If you like to cook, gather some of your closest friends and family members and make a meal for a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter. They would so appreciate a home cooked meal.
If you like working with the elderly, call your nursing homes, hospitals, and meal service programs, such as Meals on Wheels.
If you like sewing, you may sew some clothes or bedspreads for a local women’s shelter, or sew some robes or pillows for a nursing home. There are some organizations that sew for a cause.
If you like the outdoors, you can volunteer by clearing/cleaning a neighborhood park, plant some flowers for a nursing home or neighbor, mow yards, or build something, such as for Habitat for Humanity.
If you have more than one thing you love, you can try to combine your interests. For example, if you love sports and children, consider volunteering at a local YMCA and be a volunteer coach for the soccer team.
I don’t know if we have enough time to volunteer.
Here’s an easy breakdown of time commitments and possible things to do with your family:
If you can only give one hour, you could:
- Give blood.
- Register to vote.
- Donate old clothes.
- Gather non-perishable foods and take them to your local food pantry.
- Buy a small item to donate to a child.
- Read a book to a group of children at the hospital, children’s shelter or library.
Or you could:
- Spend time with patients/elderly at the hospital or nursing home.
- Serve meals at a homeless shelter.
- Pick up trash at a local park.
- Help care for animals at a local animal shelter.
- Tutor a child after school.
If you can give a weekend, you could:
- Help build a home for Habitat For Humanity.
- Get involved with a community clean-up effort.
- Create murals at a local children’s center.
- Participate with a community event or fundraiser, such as a walkathon.
If you can give one hour a week, you could:
- Be a coach for a child’s sports team.
- Be a mentor for a little boy or girl with the Boys & Girls Club.
- Be a tutor for a child at the YMCA or local school.
- Visit a lonely elderly client at the nursing/retirement community.
- Deliver meals to the elderly through Meals-On-Wheels.
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