Have you done any volunteering work lately? Whether you have or not, it’s always a great idea to do more! In this blog, I’ve compiled a few service opportunity resources that I think would be perfect for you. If you’re still not sure if volunteering is right for you, check out my previous blog to learn more about volunteer work’s various youth benefits.
VOLUNTEER EXAMPLE
Every year, United Way of Addison County (UWAC) leads an exciting event we call Stuff the Bus. When the summer starts wrapping up and 
everyone begins getting ready for school, we pack school bags for High School down to Elementary School students. Each schoolbag is a kit of important supplies; they have UWAC swag, pencils, pens, notebooks, binders, crayons, and more! On August 13th, the UWAC team distributed close to 600 schoolbags! Not to mention that this is the only program in the county with a zero-barrier school supply program! The bags were driven and dropped off at pick-up sites throughout our county. Olivia Brooks, my fellow youth coordinator and the person who planned and implemented the program this year said, “after volunteering for four years stuffing backpacks, it has been so gratifying to be able to supply the backpacks and see the results of the program firsthand.”
WHAT OTHER WAYS CAN WE VOLUNTEER?
Days of Caring is coming up in September, and that’s a great way to get out into the community and volunteer. If you have a sports team, club, or group you work with, you can sign up together. And there are plenty of individual tasks available, too.
Did you know that UWAC has an amazing platform that can help you find some incredible volunteering opportunities in our area? If you didn’t, here’s a link to the website. I recommend creating an account rather than just browsing because you’ll have access to some really helpful features!
Features include (but are not limited to):
- Personalized filter for types of volunteering
- Automatic email updates
- Intuitive online dashboard
- Many opportunities in our area
- Subscription to organizations that you enjoy volunteering for
- Details of all your volunteering (hours, relative monetary value, outreach)
I recently created an account as well. Here’s a quick overview of how to set an account up:
- Log onto the previously mentioned website
- On the top right of the page, click the red box that says “SIGN UP”
- Follow the prompts on the screen as they ask for basic information and then press the blue “CREATE YOUR ACCOUNT” button
- Next, you’ll be directed to a page that will ask you to click any interests that you have. This will allow the website to show opportunities that you would be interested in doing. After selecting, click the blue “CONTINUE TO NEXT STEP” button at the bottom of the page.
- Lastly, click the blue “CONTINUE” button to finish setting up your account.
- That’s it! Feel free to explore the website and the useful tools, and you should be able to start signing up for plenty of volunteering opportunities.
GO SIGN UP!
The sooner the better! If you’re still not convinced, seriously, check out my last blog about why volunteering is absolutely amazing.
Feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or ideas for future posts! You can reach me at sean@unitedwayaddisoncounty.org.
Happy Volunteering!
Sean Davison attends Mount Abraham Union High School and is a Youth Coordinator with United Way of Addison County.
