Where can i sign up to become a volunteer to go down to new orleans and help rebuild?

Question

Where can i sign up to become a volunteer to go down to new orleans and help rebuild?

Answer 1

try Habitat for Humanity.  you might have just as much luck in your own neighborhood without the cost of trying to live in N.O. for weeks or months.  most of the work going on down there now is contracted or private construction.  you might get an actual job instead of volunteer work.

Answer 2

The Web site http://fixnola.org is designed to match civic-minded individuals in New Orleans and nationwide with volunteer opportunities throughout the city. The opportunities are searchable by areas of interest and location. Nonprofits may post opportunities at volunteermatch.com.

The Web site http://www.volunteerneworleans.com provides a clearinghouse for contact information on secular and faith-based groups doing relief and humanitarian work in the area.

Common Ground provides assistance to residents of the 9th Ward, including rebuilding, mowing, gardening, soil testing, handyman and gutting services. Also provides a legal clinic, a medical clinic, and a women's shelter

http://www.commongroundrelief.org  

Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations keeps a directory of more than 1,000 member charities.  

http://www.lano.org

NOLA-related volunteering opportunities are also listed at:

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/

Answer 3

The other answers have good suggestions, but almost all of the organizations they list are structured to receive help from GROUPS of volunteers who are already part of an organization and just need a local coordinator. That includes Habitat for Humanity.

Also realize that New Orleans needs help with more than just gutting flooded houses, and much of the population that organizations depended on for volunteers (pre-Katrina) is gone.

I recommend you make contact with Covenant House, which is a Catholic organization that provides services for orphans and single women with children:

Janine Walterhouse, Volunteer Coordinator.

504-584-1161        

[e-mail]

http://www.covenanthouseno.org/

Other local organizations and agencies that accept individual volunteers are:

Audubon Institute (Aquarium and Zoo): http://www.auduboninstitute.com/

New Orleans City Park: http://neworleanscitypark.com/volunteer....

New Orleans Museum of Art: http://www.noma.org/volunteer.html

If you are interested in long-term volunteer opportunities, check AmeriCorps: http://www.americorps.org/

Thank you for helping!