I have court-ordered community service, but don't know where to volunteer!?

Question

the court ordered that i complete ten days of work force for the crime i committed. after completing only three, i was relieved from that ten day sentence because some of the men working at my city's DPW were acting inappropriately. i saw my probation officer and she told me that instead, i would finish the rest of my seven days doing volunteer work at a non-profit organization of some sort. the problem is, is that i cannot find a place to volunteer! it's been about two weeks since i started looking, and to my surprise, it's really hard to find somewhere that needs my help. i was told to go to the red cross [but there isn't one anywhere near where i live], a school [they don't hire volunteers, only student teachers], st. vincend de paul [a very long application process], animal shelter [only open from 10am-11am daily], and search engines online only pointed me towards volunteer opportunities available for 2 hours a week! i'm eager to volunteer, but clueless as to where to look!

Answer 1

That's some outstanding advice there, Poppygoo...  Tell that to your own PO and see what happens next...

Our department tells probationers the same thing:  do the community service work at any non-profit organization you want...  We also provide a list of about 40-50 agencies that we know that provide community service, although the probationer is not bound to use any of those agencies...they're just suggestions...  I'm guessing your PO doesn't have such a list, though, since it sounds like they normally used your city's DPW until a few idiots ruined it for everyone...

I tell the folks that I supervise that they can work for anything owned by the city, county, or state:  parks departments, fire departments, police departments, etc...  Libraries are good options...  Goodwill Industries has a few locations in my area, and they are very popular places to work because they are open for many hours each day, and they don't care (around here, anyway) if you work 2 hours a day or 8 hours a day...  Churches are also popular places to work, although you might want to clear that through your PO first, since not all departments may allow community service work to be done for religious organizations...  

Some other agencies that we list that might be in your area:

--Habitat for Humanity

--Nursing homes (make sure it's a non-profit one, though, because not all of them are)

--American Legion or similar organizations (again, make sure they are non-profit first)

--Food banks

--Homeless shelters / kitchens

--City governments--sometimes our city uses community service workers to help clean offices/hallways/restrooms or move office furniture or file papers or destroy papers or any other special projects they may have going on at any given time in any particular department...

--Your Probation Department--occasionally, we have special projects that we use community service workers for...

I hope that gives you some ideas...  Good luck to you!