Volunteer opporunities?

Question

I have always wanted to take several months and volunteer either overseas or somewhere in the US. I am at a point in my life where this would be very easy to do, and I want to know what kind of opportunities are available. I did not finish my degree, so I'm ineligible for PeaceCorps, which is what I would really like to do. What is there out there for me?

Answer 1

www.rippleafrica.org

Answer 2

Check out this site...

http://www.volunteermatch.org/

Answer 3

If you really want to join the PeaceCorps, why not finish your degree?  It depends on what you want to do.  If you're into missions, you could join a church that does missions.  If you want to build homes, then habitat for humanity might have overseas work.  Figure out what you want to do first and then find organizations that way.  Also, the Red Cross probably has opportunities.

Answer 4

As an unskilled volunteer with no fee, going overseas is going to cost you -- flights, in-country transportation, health insurance, accommodation, food, security, translators, training, staff to supervise and support you in your service, liaisons with the police and local officials, etc.

There is a listing of the more-than-30 member organizations of the International Volunteers Program Association (IVPA) that is a good place to find reputable volunteer-for-a-fee programs -- programs where you don't need to have much experience in order to participate, and the placements are just for a few weeks or months:

http://www.volunteerinternational.org/

To find volunteering opportunities in the USA:

VolunteerMatch, http://www.volunteermatch.org

Idealist, http://www.idealist.org

Change.org, http://www.change.org

CraigsList, http://www.craigslist.com

Network for Good, http://www.networkforgood.org

http://www.1-800-volunteer.org/

ServeNet, http://servenet.org/

Also, contact your local volunteer center; you can find this via the Points of Light Foundation web site, http://www.pointsoflight.org/centers/

There's also this government sponsored site, http://volunteer.gov/gov/ which provides volunteer positions through USA federal land agencies like Fish & Wildlife, Forest Service, National Parks, etc.

If you want to be a volunteer to help with the consequences of a natural disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina, you need to register and prepare NOW. Here's a web site where you can register and start your preparation so that you can help the next time disaster strikes:

http://www.helpindisaster.org/