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Volunteer Opportunities
- Learning Through Volunteering
It is intended for
homeschooling families who participate in volunteer
activities of any kind, as well as families who would
like to begin volunteering but don't know where or how
to get started. The list may be used for generating
ideas, sharing stories, discussing what we learn and
gain through volunteerism, and anything else that is
volunteer, family or homeschool related. Any type of
volunteering is potential discussion material -
humanitarian/philanthropic, wildlife/animal,
environmental - ANYTHING!
"Learning Through Volunteering" is an inclusive list
and is open to anyone regardless of religion, age,
race, etc., so please keep *all* posts respectful.
- Family Matters
The website says, "The Family Matters initiative is a national program of
the Points of Light Foundation and the Volunteer Center National Network
focused on developing models, building capacity, and raising awareness of
the values gained from families volunteering together. It is based on the
idea, grounded in research, that families who volunteer together benefit at
least as much as those they seek to help, and that family involvement in
community service promotes it value to a younger generation."
After you register (free), you can link to an amazing assortment of really
cool, quite do-able volunteer project ideas ranging from instructions on how
to make "Sleepy Snack Sacks" for homeless shelters to "Baby Bags for Haiti"
to making pillows and toy bags for seriously ill children and more. The site
also has extensive "compassion education" discussion and lesson topics.
- United Way
That links you to your
county's United Way chapter, which usually features lists of organizations
in your area that can use volunteer help. Our chapter here , Hands on
Tampa, even categorizes organizations that are "family friendly" and
welcome volunteers ages 6 and up, accompanied by adult volunteers.
- City Cares
The goal of these "City Cares"
chapters and affiliates is to "put volunteers in direct, hands on service in
their communities," and to do so in a way that fits people's schedules. Most
of the sites have calendar listings and information about a variety of ways
you and your family can help. If there isn't a group in your community,
there's information about how to start one. It's a pretty comprehensive
looking organization.
- SERVEnet
SERVEnet.org is the premier website on service and volunteering. Through SERVEnet, users can enter their zip code, city, state, skills, interests, and availability and be matched with organizations needing help. SERVEnet is also a place to search for calendar events, job openings, service news, recommended books, and best practices. YSA's commitment to America's Promise is to have volunteer opportunities on SERVEnet for every zip code in America.
- Do Something
includes an "action guide" featuring project ideas and information on grants
- US Environmental Protection Agency
lists projects recommended by the EPA to help protect the environment.
- Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapters and Youth Programs for children 5 and up who want to work on Habitat programs
- Idealist Kids and Teens
explains how to start a project to help local or global community, incuding links to nonprofit sites for kids interested in human rights, the environment and the arts
- Kids Care Clubs
focuses on philanthropy project for elementary through middle school students and lists monthly service projects with info on resources and progams focusing on literacy, hunger, poverty and the eldery.
- Sewing Charity
"Sewing Charity is a directory of all charitable sewing, knitting and crochet projects."
- Rolling Readers
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Related discussions
- Interesting article from Homeschool Zone
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Last year, our family participated in a project organized by one of the women at our church. She decided to start collecting small stuffed animals, toys, books, school and art supplies, clothing, whatever would fit in a kid-sized tote bag or backpack. The idea was to pack the bags with an assortment of stuff, then distribute them to familes at a local homeless shelter when the folk group we sang with performed there on Thanksgiving. In conjunction with that project, my family and a couple of other UU homeschooling families got together to make small pillows to add to the bag. We bought inexpensive flannel fabric in kid-friendly patterns and colors, then had the adults cut out and sew small rectangles. It was the kids' job to turn each one right-side-out and stuff it. Then the adults (with a little help sometimes) sewed them closed. We made about 50 of these snuggly little items, which were then tucked into the bags for the kids at the shelter. Then, before we sang, we handed out the full bags.
The whole thing was a great experience, which my daughter is still talking about, so we were thrilled to find a lot of ideas for similar projects on this site. I just shared a few of the ideas from this website with her, and she is really excited to jump in and start up something new.
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Glad you like this resource. And your project sounded wonderful. I can
understand why it was so memorable for your daughter! We love doing
community service projects and volunteering for different things. The
problem has always been the children's ages. Many organizations welcome
adult help, but are understandably unable or unwilling to accommodate
underage volunteers. Like you, we find it easier to "do" than to
"distribute" so it's great to know we can do stuff at home as a family, or
with a group of like minded friends or congregation members and then give
our finished products to a group that welcomes them.
When I posted this same note to our local hs group list, one of the other
members shared a resource I hadn't known about, that provides family
volunteer opportunities here in Tampa. It's really great, and they have
several opportunities that welcome children ages 6 and up. One I'm looking
into at the moment is a gleaning and harvest group that collects outdated
and excess food from farms, restaurants and businesses and redistributes it
to shelters. This is something all of us can do together and is immediately
helpful. When you start looking, there's really a lot out there to do.
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