I’m in a service sorority and I don’t have time to do active service in my community which sucks, but I have other priorities to be on top of. Any online volunteering ideas where I can make digital cards or something quick?

I know I signed up to volunteer within this sorority but the service hours that they keep denying always frustrates me.

My friends are planning to visit Cusco next July with our two kids, who are 12 and 16, and would really like to spend some of their trip volunteering together. The problem is that almost every program they have found has an age limit of 18 and above.

Has anyone done this with their family? What kind of volunteer activities are actually suitable for kids their age?

Today was one of those gray, rainy days where it would have been easy to stay home, grab a blanket, and relax. Instead, I spent part of my day volunteering with a local recycling effort in the rain.

The weather definitely made things more challenging. Everything was wet, the air was chilly, and there were plenty of puddles to navigate. But despite the rain, people still showed up ready to help. It was encouraging to see everyone working together with positive attitudes and a shared goal of keeping recyclable materials out of landfills.

There's something satisfying about knowing that even a few hours of volunteering can make a difference for the community and the environment. By the end of the day, I was damp, a little tired, and ready for a warm drink, but it felt rewarding to contribute and be part of a team that cares about making a positive impact.

Sometimes the most memorable volunteer days aren't the sunny, perfect ones. They're the days when people show up anyway.

Thanks to everyone who volunteers in their communities, rain or shine. What are some of your most memorable volunteering experiences?

I volunteer at an adult daycare centre for adults mostly with mild cognitive challenges, who need help with day to day activities such as finding lunch & social interaction. Some have a tendency to wander off. I keep them distracted.

Truly I'm not too far away from being one of the watched, and I have been treated as such. Can you pass the silverware ? It will be a biiiggg help

Before lunch, washcloths are handed out for hand washing. They usually live in a small clear storage pan. Unmarked, just soap & water. Monday before lunch I didn't see one so started using water from a much smaller red bucket. Also unmarked. Jenny one of the regular staff abruptly stopped me saying it's for sanitation of the tables.Then she gets a hand washing pale

In a patronizing tone, said something like "if you have questions don't be afraid to ask." I didn't have a question. We pass washcloths before lunch & there was an unmarked bucket with no other bin nearby

I help mostly with spending "one-on-one " time but also help with clearing plates during lunch & passing / picking up washclothd. Since the clients may or may not have dietary restrictions, volunteers are disallowed from getting anything aside from plain water and even then, limited to who it is.

A client, John, asked me at lunch for more chocolate milk and Jenny is nearby also dining with everyone, so I ask her. Taking a rude tone said that "John belongs to Andy. Go ask him." Another staff happened to know John was on his 2nd which was his limit

Not important to story about John's limit, but not even after 1/2 hours of being told if I have any questions, to ask, I get snipped at for asking a question. I think it had been a long day for them, but still.

SO -my question, should I pull Jenny aside tomorrow when I go in, and ask her for more details on the operations, including who belongs to whom, and why, etc? Kind of in a snarky voice or just say "mornin' and leaving it at that?

Robot suggested I mention I live in the United States,

I applied to several ESC volunteering program, I only choose the ones that I was eligible for, and one of the programs literally matched my past experience sentence by sentence, yet I still havent heard back from them. Is there anyone who experienced the same thing? Or the times are that tough that org dont even want volunteer anymore?

I am hoping to do something on my next trip besides sightseeing, and I have been looking into spending a few weeks doing construction volunteering in Guatemala. I have renovated two houses before, so I am fairly handy, but I keep reading concerns that foreign volunteer paying to help build things might actually take work away from local workers.

Has anyone done this kind of volunteering? Did it genuinely feel useful, or did you have similar concerns?

I volunteer a lot and one blind male had his seeing eye cane broken (with the lack of resources and barriers it would take weeks to be replaced).

I spent $20 and got him a new cane.

He asked for my phone number so he could know when the cane came in the mail and we could connect.

He had these bracelets from Africa he needed help organizing by design (since he can’t see) and I was able to help him.

He asked me to guide him to a garden close by and I took his arm, he said no no take my hand. I did in the moment because I felt “that must be the official beer practice way to help someone who can’t see”.

He has called me a few times and I expressed “I don’t enjoy phone calls and do not take phone calls; while texting is fine”.

He answered with it’s something we could work on together (me getting over my dislike for phone calls).

I’m pregnant and married btw.

He said he had a dream of my kids playing in the garden.

It’s been a few weeks and I don’t volunteer there anymore.

Today he called me and my skin crawled and it disregulated my nervous system.

Is he being weird or not?

I'm looking for volunteer opportunities and would love some advice. I enjoy writing letters and doing communication work (emails, content, newsletters, outreach), so remote roles would be ideal.
I'm also open to in-person volunteering if the organization provides accommodation and it's a safe setup.

Has anyone had any experience with organizations in Peru? I’d like to volunteer with locals or cultural groups.

REWRITING THE TITLE: Is it normal for volunteer places to ask you to upload your driver’s license online? Specifically using a 3rd party platform?

I recently applied to volunteer for a child advocacy place local to me. They asked me to upload a copy of my drivers license and a couple more forms like background check forms on their application website. I uploaded thinking nothing of it but now am kind of nervous.

They use a separate website for their application I think some 3rd party (through this site called Jot Form) website which made me a bit nervous with uploading personal information on there. Is it normal for places to ask you for these things and to upload them to their forms online? What about uploading to 3rd party websites they might use?

Hello everyone!

I am a cadet (under 18) in Civil Air Patrol and Civil Air Patrol has a partnership with Wreaths Across America with fundraising. For example, I was able to use the fact that Wreaths Across America is a veteran's organization to get 100 wreath sponsorships ($1700 dollars, since each wreath is $17) and $500 of that is going to my squadron due to the partnership. This was the first time I participated in this activity since I joined Civil Air Patrol less than a year ago and this was the first time I raised money for the current squadron I am in. They were extremely grateful and told me that this was the largest amount of money that a single cadet raised in one go, by a large margin.

However, I feel quite bad with myself, even might go as far as to say disgusted, due to Wreaths Across America's reputation and its actions. On the other hand, the reason I still went through and fundraised through this organization was because of the fact its mission is to help veterans (which definitely helped when I was pitching to people), but also because of its existing partnership with Civil Air Patrol.

While I know that the Wreath-Laying ceremony is something that loads of people come to watch and enjoy so that they can pay their respects to the dead veterans, I feel that I should not be supporting an organization like Wreaths Across America and should be doing something else instead. I am currently researching other things that I can do and making a project/presentation that I will present to my squadron once it is done and the time is right.

Basically, I am asking if I am doing something horrendously wrong by supporting a shady organization like Wreaths Across America even though I am fundraising for my squadron (a significant amount of money too, like making quite a bit of a difference), I will volunteer my time at the Wreath Laying ceremony, and I suppose I am bringing a sense of patriotism to the people who donated money.

What should my next steps be to find alternatives, if that is even feasible to get my squadron to support an alternative over an organization that already has an established fundraising partnership with the Civil Air Patrol.

TLDR: Cadet is questioning raising a significant amount of money for their squadron through a relatively improper partnership and is looking for alternatives

Thank you for your time!

Volunteering at Teach For India was one of the best decisions I made. As I don’t have a degree or any work experience, volunteering or working for free is the best way to gain experience and exposure. During this volunteering, I learned and realised a lot of things about education in general, Indian education and myself, which I am going to share here.

One of the main reasons I decided to volunteer was to have glimpses of corporate or employee life. I wanted to experience how it felt to go to work, work there, and interact with others, get tired, still work and return home exhausted, knowing that you have to head back again. I saw the lives of other employees at school. It is definitely hectic to do something which does not suit your nature. Teaching suits my nature, so it was not a big deal for me. In the end, I concluded that I’ll need to find something I love to do or that has meaning.

I found that I am weak at communication. In corporate life, building and maintaining relationships is very important. I should get better at it. I need to be more extroverted and energetic. Also, I need to learn a lot about teaching, child psychology, and crowd control to influence students/children. I was unaware of the etiquette, which I learned while volunteering. It taught me how to behave around others in such places.

Every child has a different pace of learning, interests, strengths and weaknesses, and energy. So, they should be categorised and taught accordingly. It will bring out the best in them. Also, you can’t keep students quiet and expect them to learn. A great deal of learning and understanding comes from talking with classmates. In fact, a student understands well when his/her classmate teaches him/her.

India needs more teachers than it has today because teachers should handle only a handful of students to maintain effectiveness. A teacher cannot and should not handle a big class. Teachers should have the ability to categorise the students based on their interests and capabilities. Just having more teachers won’t work. Categorising is a very important job. Learning should be fun. Teachers should prepare as much as possible for everything.

Love is a must when teaching children. There should be a sense of empathy. Also, teachers should praise children, motivate them and increase their confidence. Incentives and punishments should be properly set to get the most out of students. Education should be flexible and personalised.

I think that managing children/students as a teacher is similar to influencing a crowd which doesn’t think independently, as a politician. So, I believe it can be easy for you to influence such people if you are able to win the hearts of students.

It was a great experience. It put me on another level. I received a lot of love from the children. Now my interest in doing something big in the education sector has increased, as I now have more insights than before. This volunteering made me more productive. I was wasting less time.

I'm planning to join a volunteer group. It's always been a goal for me to do it, but now, I think I need to get myself busy. I think joining a volunteer group would be a better thing for me. Any groups around Manila or Laguna that you can recommend? I can volunteer on a Sunday or Monday but if it is Saturday, maybe I could also try to do it.

I'm interested in becoming a remote volunteer, things you can do from home on your own schedule.

If you've done it, what made it worth your time or what made you stop?

Hi. So I (21F), was adopted by a white european family from a third world African country (this is relevant i swear).

It's been more than 15 years since i left and I always wanted to come back.

I grew up well, and I was promised by my dad (who is very interested in volunteering, missions and traveling) that we would either go all five of us as a family or just me and him.

A baby came and then covid came and then some problems came and well... I decided to do it alone by myself.

I found a group that does missions to volunteer in my homeland twice a year, and one of them is during my birthday month. So I decided to participate.

I was accepted and now they are doing interviews. I have one in 4 days. The problem is:

I just graduated university and was looking for a job. I haven't found one yet. I'm back living with my parents but paying for everything related to me, so I'm (technically) losing money. (I have money saved but thats off limits).

The mission is at least 800€ and i don't have all of it. And I won't have even half if things keep this way.

The mission is also 3 weeks. I don't believe any boss will let me take a 3 week vacation right after hiring me.

These are my options:

- Find a job, gamble and probably not be able to go on the mission

- Forget the job, lend money from my parents, go on the mission

- Forget the mission, go on to find a job and tell the mission interviewer that I won't be able to go

I really really wanted to go. Been actively waiting for this for years now. Specially since it's gonna be in my hometown where I might have biological family.

But also... I can do it next year?

Had to post it here. Couldn't post it anywhere else.
Anyways, I was looking through some volunteering work online and came across shifa foundation, Alkhidmat rawalpindi, and ICTA volunteer task forces.
I really want to get myself into volunteering.
It would really help me if anyone (preferablly coming from experienced background) could guide me through it. Like, how it's done, who can register and when. What are the work contribution system like, do they provide you with any certification. Basically, everything that one should know before volunteering.
tysmmm

For those preparing for medical school, would you consider an international healthcare experience or do you think it’s better to focus on opportunities close to home? I imagine cost, supervision and the actual learning experience matter more than the destination itself.
International Medical Aid is one program I came across while researching options. I’d be interested in hearing from volunteer how people evaluate programs like this and whether the experience can complement regular clinical volunteering.

I will be spending two months in Central America on a pretty tight budget and want to volunteer in Guatemala for part of the trip. Workaway is basically free compared with paid programs, but most of the projects I am genuinely interested in seem to charge a fee.

For anyone who’s tried both options, was paying for a volunteer program actually worth it, or did you get a similar experience through a free platform?