How and Where to Volunteer
Your school, local charities and community organizations are good places to start looking for opportunities. The biggest hurdle is finding a volunteer job that fits you. Start by listing your interests and hobbies and see how they might relate to volunteer opportunities.
The following list gives you ideas on where you might start looking:
1. United Way
The United Way is an umbrella organization for thousands of charitable organizations across Canada . The United Way raises money and distributes it to these charities. There are local United Way affiliates across the country.
2. Homeless Shelters
Most cities have shelters that provide homeless people with meals, beds and other services. Distributing meals, working behind the scenes in the business office, helping organize a food drive to stock the pantry are some of the ways in which volunteers can get involved.
3. Food Banks
Food banks serve poor people in the community, often in co-operation with homeless shelters. Food banks collect food, manage their inventory and distribute food to those in need. They particularly need help around major holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving.
4. Ronald McDonald House
Ronald McDonald Houses provide a low-cost "home-away-from-home" for parents and children to stay while children who are seriously ill are being treated for long periods of time at a hospital or university medical centre. Volunteers help prepare meals, talk to families, take care of the house and so on.
5. Snowsuit Funds
When the weather turns cold and people need to bundle up, snowsuit funds gather new and slightly used snowsuits, boots, hats, gloves and scarves to give away to those who can’t afford them. Volunteers help gather, sort and distribute the clothing. Local media will advertise when the snowsuit fund is being run.
6. Big Brother and Big Sister Programs
The program looks to increase participants’ self-esteem and to increase their physical and emotional wellness, to then take these to their families and communities. Volunteers are needed to spend quality time with individual boys and girls.
7. Hospitals
Hospitals need volunteer to entertain patients, deliver meals, run activity programs and gift shops.
8. Community groups and special events
Theatre groups, dance companies, pet shows and outdoor festivals are just some of the community events that need people to help with everything from promotion to set design to ticket sales and clean up.
9. Children’s Sports Programs
Your favourite sport can be a great source of exercise and volunteer activities. Volunteers are needed for sports training, fund raising, administrative help, and competition planning and staffing.
10. City Programs
Most large cities offer a wide range of volunteer opportunities. Many city governments are large and you may have to call around to find someone who can help.
11. Literacy Programs
If you enjoy reading, sharing that joy can be a great gift. When you think about it, reading is one of the most important skills an adult can have. Literacy volunteers help children and adults learn to read.
12. Libraries
Many libraries need help reshelving books, running children's programs and making books available to the community.
13. Senior Citizens Centres
Many senior citizen centres offer volunteer programs to provide friendship and community activities to senior citizens.
14. Animal Shelters
Many animal shelters are non-profit and welcome volunteers to help take care of animals, keep facilities clean and work with the public.
15. Red Cross and other emergency relief organizations
Emergency relief organizations rely on volunteers to sort and package donations and help with clerical tasks.
16. Salvation Army
The Salvation Army provides social services, rehabilitation centres, disaster services, worship opportunities for all ages.
17. Environmental Organizations
Environmental organizations like Greepeace encourage volunteer support to help with environmental activities. You can help in many ways: by helping lobby on conservation issues, by leading hikes and other activities, or by helping in the office.
18. Political Campaigns
If it's an election year, there are thousands of opportunities to volunteer in political campaigns around the country. You can learn more than you imagine by helping a candidate win election at the municipal, provincial or federal level. Pick a candidate whose ideas you believe in and volunteer to be a part of his or her campaign.
19. 800 Number Volunteer
Many 800 help-lines rely on volunteers to staff the phones and handle other tasks. If there is an 800 phone bank in your area, you may be able to volunteer to help out.
20. Web site creation
Many small charities and organizations do not yet have web sites. You can help by learning how to create a web site and volunteering your services. You could also raise money to pay for the web site, or seek help from a local company in the form of a donation. When creating a web site for a charity, you have to listen very carefully to the people who work for the charity to understand what they want their web site to look and feel like. You should be willing to change and improve the site to match their mental image.
Check your local phone book for listings for these and other community organizations looking for volunteers. These are just some suggestions on where you can find volunteer work in your community. No doubt you can think of many more.