Where can you volunteer besides soup kitchens, animal shelters or hospitals?

Question

Where can you volunteer besides soup kitchens, animal shelters or hospitals?

Answer 1

VolunteerMatch, http://www.volunteermatch.org

Idealist, http://www.idealist.org

HandsOn Network, http://www.handsonnetwork.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/

If you see an organization that you would like to help, but don't see a volunteering opportunity posted by that organization, it's okay to call them and say you would like to volunteer -- they may have opportunities they haven't posted. Also, many organizations are open to your own suggestions for volunteering activities.

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.

Remember that finding a volunteering gig can be like finding a job: you may have to interview several times before you are chosen for an assignment.

Answer 2

go to your church and ask if theres anything you can do, my church does a misson trip where we go and build houses

you could also help out at your school or parents work

Answer 3

Check with your local/city website (most cities have them now).  They'll have links to groups that post volunteer opportunities.  Here are some my family enjoys:  

Habitat for Humanity (no, you don't have to know how to build stuff)

The local park and rec department, cleaning up natural areas, building birdhouses, habitats, etc, re-habilitating birds of prey.

Local historical sites need volunteers, sometimes to dress up in costume even, to run tours, greet guests, perform.

Children's theatre.

Local schools, especially when they have fund raisers or have a hands' on day (picking up litter, planting stuff).

The local quilter's guild here makes blankets and quilts for preemies, or children in need (cancer, parent's death, etc.)

YMCA summer camps or other summer camps.

There are also lots of little, one-time kind of things.  My daughter volunteered with the Habitat for Humanity store in town taking digital photos of the donated merchandise for the website and helped a local anti-violence group hold a kind of multi-sport field day.

Answer 4

Big Brother and Big Sisters of America!

Answer 5

At a library... we love having volunteers!

Answer 6

You could be a mentor.  The mentoring program here asks for a one year commitment though.

Answer 7

Habitat for Humanity

Answer 8

nursing homes, daycares, etc