Do you volunteer?

[Hisgirl]

I volunteer as an online counselor for an international ministry. Folks chat with me when they are feeling hopeless, suicidal, needing assurance etc. I pray with them and give them hope. I also oversee the facebook/youtube account of a ministry.
I also work as an interpreter at a history center and volunteer at a financial literacy consortium.

 

[tvguy]

Little League (Umpire, Coach and Board Member)
Soccer (field setup, yuck, at 6 am Saturday morning)
Homeless shelter (serving meals)
Food Bank (preparing food bags)
Salvation Army (preparing food boxes)
Blood donor. (Type A+ )

All but being a blood donor done with my family

 

[Minerva Mouse]

I volunteer at various aquariums doing dolphin rehab, with Florida Fish and Wildlife doing manatee rescues and releases, and a lemur facility doing animal care with the lemurs.

That sounds awesome. How did you fall into that?

 

[TinaLala]

So I volunteer as. Girl Scout leader, trainer, camp coordinator, event coordinator and service unit team member. Dh is pto president. Plus we both volunteer at our kids dance studio.

 

[Minerva Mouse]

I'm not sure where I fit in. I don't do church, and I don't have young kids. I have a soft spot for animals, and people who truly need help. I'm just not sure where to go, or how to start the process, and I want to pick somewhere that really needs me. Do some places ever have too many volunteers?

Kudos to all of you who responded. Volunteers are awesome!

 

[kirstenb1]

Kids schools, church, local food pantry, parks and rec, kids' softball, and swim teams, Christmas Mother shopping (easy, once a year).

Although I don't volunteer there, you could add local museums and historic homes to your list of options.

 

[dolphinrescuegirl]

That sounds awesome. How did you fall into that?

I started dolphin rehab in Texas with the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network who will take volunteers who take the orientation. Lots of aquariums have volunteer programs.

Manatee stuff- my husband works for Florida Fish and Wildlife and I have lots of experience with dolphins so they took me on as a volunteer as well.

Lemurs- they had a booth at a festival to give out info. I inquired about their volunteer program. I have lots of small and big animal experience so after several months of doing office work they transferred me to the animal care dept.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

We are pretty limited as we enjoy doing it as a family of 5 and my youngest is only 7. That being said, we have worked for 7 months out of the year at our church sorting for their annual rummage sale and then putting it on over a long weekend (it's a huge sale that takes over the fairgrounds). During the Winter months we volunteer as bell ringers for the Salvation Army with and without our homeschool group and then we also give time once a month at a local nursing home.

 

[christineann]

I volunteer regularly with outreach for my church and other organizations. I am somewhat limited for time though because I work two jobs. One of my favorites is the Hootie and the Blowfish Foundation, which gathers, organizes and distributes school supplies and shoes (free eye and dental screenings also) to children in poor areas of the state. Seeing the excitement of the children is so rewarding!

My daughter and I "super coupon" and donate a lot of items to charities for the homeless and victims of CDV.

 

[low-key]

I dont, but a long time ago I did some, I always felt its something you should keep to yourself, which I did, when I did

 

[crazelion]

I volunteer at the kids schools, boy and girl scouts, and festival.

 

[Kitzka]

I volunteer at an assisted living community. When DD was in Girl Scouts they visited the home and I got to talking to one of the workers. He mentioned that they get visitors at the holidays but many of the seniors don't have visitors at other times of the year.

So I started going to visit 1 afternoon a month for a few hours. Now I go 2-3 times a month and spent about 4 hours. I play games with them, read letters, etc.

dd goes to college in about 19 months and I will spend more time there once she is gone.

 

[tigercat]

I volunteered for many different organizations in the past. However, the last 2 that I volunteered for ended up being horrible to me so I quit. I ended up with health problems and now I can't. I still volunteer for several different things for my faith but I don't really think of it as volunteering but as serving my faith.
tigercat

 

[bushdianee]

I volunteer with the Girl Scout troop my 2 nieces are in. I'm on my 3rd year.

 

[Monykalyn]

Yes-hubs and I are both involved with our local Sertoma clubs and have been for a few years. Our clubs raise money for local children's charities. We have a ton of fun but the bigger event planning can be consuming. Hubs was also involved with Optimist clubs before Sertoma; both are good places to start looking for volunteer opportunities.

One thing about volunteering-our kids are appreciative of what they have and appreciate family, and the oldest often volunteers with me now, and is in the Pay it Forward club at her school.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I USED to. There is no reason for me to not volunteer. My company also prides itself on our somewhat famous VoluntEar department.

I just need to get off of my lazy butt and sign up for something.

 

[powellrj]

I use to volunteer, but not anymore. I would like to again at some point, but not right now.

 

[aprilgail2]

Do some places ever have too many volunteers?

YES! We have way more people try to volunteer than we could ever use, especially at Christmas! I have been volunteering at the same place for 12 years now, my daughter "grew up" volunteering there- she was 3 when I first started and she would help bag up toys at 3 and has been at it there since then! I take off from my real job for 2 weeks at Christmas to volunteer 10+ hours a day for the 14 days. I love it there and when I retire I will be there more. Its a charity that helps out sick and needy children year round but at Christmas we take in and distribute over 70,000 toys to local needy families. My daughter recently got the presidential gold award for volunteering over 100 hours in a year.

 

[Andtototoo]

Not for the last few years.

I was brought up to volunteer and did it my entire life. I enjoyed it and found it a good way to meet people, while helping others. Win-win.

However, since moving here 20+ years ago, volunteering became problematic for me. I was happy to help others, but in the process it became just one more way for the "locals" to let me know that I was an "outsider" and unwelcome except as a worker. So a few years ago, I threw in the towel and let the various organization leaders know why. No apologies, no apparent signs of feeling bad that they made a volunteer feel like crap, nothing. I kept leading a book group at the local library and then quit that last spring. I was wondering if those ladies would reach out to me since we'd known each other for >10 years. Nothing from them individually or as a group and no thank you from the library either. Now, I only wish I'd quit that at the same time that I quit the other activities.

I plan on volunteering again when we move to what I hope will be a place less likely to want to run "outsiders" out of town.

 

[tinkerbellandeeyor]

I am looking into volunteering more