Ways To Volunteer In Austin
Ask yourself what you’re passionate about. There is a good chance that if you answered anything to do with the environment, climate change, animals, helping to fight against homelessness, or basically anything that involves humans, animals, or nature, there is a volunteer opportunity for you! You might find yourself wanting to volunteer in Austin and stand up for the things you believe in, but are totally in the dark about where to start. Here are just a few places where you can volunteer in your neighborhood.
Animal Shelters
Whether you are a full-time worker, student, or retiree, there is a place for you at an animal shelter. Animal shelters regularly find themselves in search of passionate and dedicated volunteers to help ensure the health and well-being of the animals in their care. You may find volunteer opportunities walking and playing with dogs and puppies, tending to and spending time with cats or small caged animals, or even cleaning various shelter areas. Another area that is incredibly crucial to the continuing operations of an animal shelter is fundraising. Many shelters operate solely on donations of money as well as toys, bedding, and food for our furry friends. You can look into volunteering at adoption events as well.
Food Banks/Soup Kitchens
Far too many people in the world go to sleep hungry every night. If you are looking for a way to give back to your community that helps provide food to those in need, consider contacting your local food bank or soup kitchen. You may find volunteer opportunities participating in food drives at the local grocery store, raising money to help fund the soup kitchen, or actually preparing/serving meals in the soup kitchen. Many people have fallen on hard times, especially in today’s economy. It is important to remember that organizations and people are still trying to help keep others on their feet. Contact your local food bank or soup kitchen to find out what you can do to help.
Retirement Homes
Retirement homes have become a place that many people now overlook when thinking about volunteering. If you are passionate about people and helping those who might be dealing with loneliness, then your local retirement home is the perfect place for you. Sometimes all it takes is a little company to make someone’s day a thousand times better. You can often find volunteer opportunities in retirement homes or nursing homes doing things like reading to the residents, playing board games, playing music for them, or even volunteering for movie nights. The world is a scary place when you feel alone, so why not do what you can to make it just a little less scary for someone else?
Blood Drives
Blood drives are incredibly valuable and important to keeping the community healthy. Donating blood is a generous and selfless act that, in turn, may save someone’s life. To keep the blood drives going, they need to ensure that they have enough help to keep them up and to run. There are different positions that you might find yourself interested in volunteering for, and the availability to you may depend on your experience and qualifications. That is not to say that there is nothing for you if you don’t have experience in healthcare. You can find volunteer opportunities in the form of greeting and helping to calm the nerves of the donors while they are waiting to give blood or helping out with the registration process. You can also help by providing supervision and support to those recovering immediately after donating blood. You can volunteer to hand out refreshments afterward or some people can even find volunteer opportunities transporting blood from the blood drive site to the hospitals. Volunteer and participate in a team that actively works to save lives.
Make Austin Clean
If you are passionate about climate change and keeping the earth a clean and healthy place for generations to come, consider volunteering with Make Austin Clean. Make Austin Clean is a nonprofit organization based in Austin, Texas. We believe strongly in doing our part to clean up trash in the community and keep Austin green and beautiful. The planet is in a state of environmental crisis, and you can help keep it safe and healthy just by volunteering for a few hours. Make Austin Clean gets together to clean up garbage and litter off the ground every week. We strongly believe that if everyone took just a minute out of their day to pick up trash, the city would be a much better place for everyone. If you are interested in being part of the change in your community, register at Givepulse today.
Keep Austin Beautiful and Austin Parks
Two other organizations work closely with Make Austin Clean, and these are Keep Austin Beautiful and Austin Parks. Keep Austin Beautiful’s mission is to inspire and educate all Austinites to volunteer together, beautify green spaces, clean waterways, and reduce waste every day.
Austin Parks Foundation (APF) is dedicated to partnering with our community to enhance people’s lives by making our public parks, trails, and green spaces better through volunteerism, innovative programming, advocacy and financial support.