In Jacob’s Shoes

The mission of In Jacob’s Shoes® is to provide new and gently used shoes, socks, backpacks, and school supplies to children in need living in South Florida.
The volunteers are involved in cleaning shoes, sorting shoes, tagging shoes, and other activities that need to be addressed on a daily basis. There are also off-site activities, such as collections of items on our wish list at https://injacobsshoes.org/wish-list/
The students can contact us at info@injacobsshoes.org or through the website at https://injacobsshoes.org/contact-us/

GrowGood

GrowGood is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that uses urban agriculture to transform communities and change lives by growing food, creating jobs, and providing nature-based mindfulness programs.

Get your hands dirty, meet your neighbors, and unearth the possibilities in our city’s soil.

Join us for an upcoming volunteer event! GrowGood Farm Volunteer events are held on the 2nd Saturday and 2nd & 4th Wednesdays of each month.

HOW TO REGISTER

  • Scroll down on the webpage to register for your preferred volunteer date(s).

NOTES

  • Bring a hat, sunscreen, water bottle and gloves (if you have them; otherwise we will provide).

  • Children are welcome to join and must be accompanied by an adult.

  • LA Compost-led Composting Volunteer events dates and registration can be found here.

Please register here!

Enable Me Now

What

Enable Me Now connects teens with people who would benefit from accessibility features on their phones but don’t know how to set them up.

Why

Most teens already know how to set up smartphone features. We show them how to put those skill to good use by helping others.

Where

Workshops at community centers in NYC. We hope to expand to more cities and plan to show other teens how to run their own workshops. (We are open to helping students in other states find ways to bring Enable Me Now into their own local communities.)

How

We partner with community organizations to schedule workshops for their clients. During the workshops we meet as a group, show participants what features are available, and help them set up the features they want on their own phones.

The Ideal Volunteer…

The ideal volunteer would feel comfortable talking in front of a group of adults. You also need your own technology to teach from/about. A parent may need to be present.

Contact

The best way to contact the organization is through the contact form on the website, which can be found here.

KEEN New York

KEEN’s  Mission:

Empower youth with disabilities and impact volunteer coaches through participation in free, non-competitive, one-on-one programs of physical activity and fun, supporting the overall health and well-being of all participants.

Core Principles:

  • accept every child, regardless of the nature or severity of their disability
  • provide all programs entirely free of charge
  • meet the needs of the individual athlete, allowing everyone to find success and joy

Our core program, “KEEN Sports” takes place in a gym with a variety of sports equipment available. Other popular programs include KEEN Yoga, Music, Quatics, Art, Dance, Jiu Jitsu & Trampoline – ALL adapted to fit KEEN’s approach to tailor to the needs of the athlete.

Volunteering for KEEN is fun and offers opportunities for occasional participation, regular involvement, and leadership.

Volunteering for KEEN is fun and offers opportunities for occasional participation, regular involvement, and leadership.  Volunteers don’t need any prior experience working with disabled individuals – KEEN provides training prior to each session.  Coaches don’t need to be athletic, either.  Our athletes will love you just as you are!

KEEN’s programs are structured so that each volunteer is assigned one program participant, or “athlete.”  A coach’s job is to help athletes take part in different sports activities and to have a good time.  Just before the athletes arrive and the session begins, coaches receive a profile with details about their athlete’s abilities as well as helpful coaching hints for that particular athlete.  Our programs offer athletes a variety of options to ensure an activity is available to meet their needs. 

We require our volunteers to be fully vaccinated prior to joining us at an in-person session.

KEEN Chicago

KEEN’s  Mission:

Empower youth with disabilities and impact volunteer coaches through participation in free, non-competitive, one-on-one programs of physical activity and fun, supporting the overall health and well-being of all participants.

Core Principles:

  • accept every child, regardless of the nature or severity of their disability
  • provide all programs entirely free of charge
  • meet the needs of the individual athlete, allowing everyone to find success and joy

Our core program, “KEEN Sports” takes place in a gym with a variety of sports equipment available. Other popular programs include KEEN Yoga, Music, Quatics, Art, Dance, Jiu Jitsu & Trampoline – ALL adapted to fit KEEN’s approach to tailor to the needs of the athlete.

Volunteering for KEEN is fun and offers opportunities for occasional participation, regular involvement, and leadership.

Volunteering for KEEN is fun and offers opportunities for occasional participation, regular involvement, and leadership.  Volunteers don’t need any prior experience working with disabled individuals – KEEN provides training prior to each session.  Coaches don’t need to be athletic, either.  Our athletes will love you just as you are!

KEEN’s programs are structured so that each volunteer is assigned one program participant, or “athlete.”  A coach’s job is to help athletes take part in different sports activities and to have a good time.  Just before the athletes arrive and the session begins, coaches receive a profile with details about their athlete’s abilities as well as helpful coaching hints for that particular athlete.  Our programs offer athletes a variety of options to ensure an activity is available to meet their needs. 

We require our volunteers to be fully vaccinated prior to joining us at an in-person session.

Love for Our Elders

Our mission is to alleviate social isolation among older adults through handwritten letters and intergenerational connections.

Everyone deserves a mailbox full of love letters, and we’re on a mission to make that happen– we’ve sent 500,000 letters of love around the world. So take a few minutes, sit down, and write a letter. Tell them about yourself, maybe share a joke or a riddle and let them know that they are loved.

It might feel difficult at first to be writing to someone you don’t know. Our advice: just pretend like it’s a conversation! What kinds of things would you want to talk about with a stranger?

Read elder bios written by the person who nominated them and choose which elder(s) you’d like to write. All letters should be stamped and mailed with love by the end of each month. We post new elders who want mail from you on the 1st of every month.

Our Guidelines:
1. Letters must be legible (large print), handwritten, and include no glitter. No worries if you’re not artistic– make your card as what you’d like to receive.

2. Avoid religion, if possible. Your letter should resonate with anyone.

3. Embrace creativity! Recipients love it when the letters are personal. We encourage you to make your letters colorful and fun– photos, crosswords, and drawings are great!

4. Be kind & thoughtful. You can include a return address, but please do not expect a letter back. We want to ensure recipients aren’t burdened by feeling obligated or unable to respond.

We’re thrilled you’ve joined our letter-writing mission. Do more good by sharing your letter on social media and make sure to mark your calendar for our holiday Letter to an Elder Day on February 26th. #lettertoanelderday

All information about how to and where to send the letters are on our website: https://loveforourelders.org/letters

Museum of Jewish Heritage

The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is New York’s contribution to the global responsibility to never forget. The Museum is committed to the crucial mission of educating diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust.

As a place of memory, the Museum enables Holocaust survivors to speak through recorded testimony and draws on rich collections to illuminate Jewish history and experience. As a public history institution, it offers intellectually rigorous and engaging exhibitions, programs, and educational resources.

The Museum protects the historical record and promotes understanding of Jewish heritage. It mobilizes memory to teach the dangers of intolerance and challenges visitors—including more than 60,000 schoolchildren a year—to let the painful lessons of the past guide them to envision a world worthy of their futures.

Email Lily Dropkin with your goals for volunteering at the Museum of Jewish Heritage to see if there are any available opportunities.

Barks of Love Animal Rescue

Barks of Love is recognized as a major resource for the welfare of abandoned and abused animals in Orange County and inland Empire, CA. Our goal is to lower euthanasia rates in all animal shelters. We provide our services in Orange County and the Inland Empire; however, we also extend our services to dogs in need from surrounding counties of Southern California when our available resources permit us to do so. We rehabilitate and re-train dogs that are able to qualify for adoption. All dogs are kept in private foster homes where they receive the medical care and affection they require until a “forever home” is found that is deemed suitable by Barks of Love. The adoption process consists of screening applicants, dog “meet and greets”, and a home check. At least 75% of the organization’s time and effort is spent on rescue and rehabilitation.

Since our inception in 2008, we’ve maintained our values as an organization that puts our dogs’ welfare first. Everything we do is driven by our passion for matching families with the right dog. We emphasize compatibility and build mutually beneficial relationships to ensure dogs are placed responsibly and given a permanent home. We do everything we can to provide foster families with the right resources and advice to raise happy, loving dogs. In addition, we make continuous efforts to stay in touch with our families and follow the success of our canines.
Our status as a volunteer organization ensures that our most dedicated staff have an utmost passion for rescuing and caring for dogs. We make sure to share all of our combined knowledge to make the most out of a foster or ownership transition.

Barks of Love is one of the few animal rescue organizations to take a proactive approach in ensuring the welfare of our dogs. We manage the entire foster process from selection, to training, to matching the dog with a permanent family. Once dogs are adopted, we encourage new owners to keep in touch with any questions or concerns. We want our dogs to stay in one permanent home for the rest of their lives and do everything in our power to ensure that they do.

Barks of Love has a diverse base of remote volunteers. We do not run out of a facility, but through our loving foster homes. Our mobile events and recruiting methods spread our ideology that anyone can take some part in animal rescue across Orange County, California, whether it being volunteering, fostering, or donating.

Ways that you might help Barks of Love:

  • Read to foster dogs on Zoom
  • Make cloth toys for dogs
  • Graphic design/Making flyers or brochures
  • Assist in keeping the dogs calm during adoption events
  • Create handmade adoption flyers to share in your community
  • Participate in the Little Barkies Club
  • Fundraise
  • Be a foster family
  • Shop our wishlists
  • Share your ideas with us!

For more information, apply to volunteer by clicking this link.

Contact Ashley Cunningham with any questions at ashley@barksoflove.org

Community Greening

Join us at one of our public tree planting events, or give us a hand in our tree nursery!
CG provides all of the necessary supplies, snacks, and drinks, and we always keep things fun. Sign up to volunteer with us at an upcoming event!

Tree Planting Volunteers

Join us for one of our Tree-Planting Events at a local school, park, or roadway. You’ll have the opportunity to plant trees and make a tangible difference in your community!

CG handles all the planning and supplies. We’ll even have staff on hand to demonstrate proper planting techniques and assist volunteers as needed. All CG Tree Plantings have a DJ on-site to keep things fun! Plantings are family-friendly.

Tree Nursery Volunteers

Volunteering at our Tree Nursery in Boca Raton will give you a behind-the-scenes look at our planting operations.

Help sow seeds, transplant saplings, and maintain young-grown trees for future planting and giveaway projects. We’ll have all the supplies needed, and our expert Tree Technicians will guide you. No experience is needed, and activities are available for all ages and physical abilities.

View all upcoming events HERE

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Southeast Florida Chapter

Mission: Save Lives and Bring Hope to Those Affected by Suicide. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is a voluntary health organization that gives those affected by suicide a nationwide community empowered by research, education and advocacy to take action against this leading cause of death.

AFSP is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide, including those who have experienced a loss.  AFSP creates a culture that’s smart about mental health by engaging in the following core strategies:

    • Funding scientific research
    • Educating the public about mental health and suicide prevention
    • Advocating for public policies in mental health and suicide prevention
    • Supporting survivors of suicide loss and those affected by suicide

Students can volunteer to help with in-person chapter events like our Out of the Darkness Walks (find upcoming events listed here: https://afsp.org/chapter/southeast-florida#events), help to plan/organize educational presentations for their peers or help to host community resource tables at local events like farmer’s markets or mental health fairs in their community.

Contact Jessica Toy, Programs Manager, at jtoy@afsp.org with questions.