Student Volunteer Opportunities
Last Updated: February 9, 2016
Students: Below are volunteer opportunities that specifically welcome high school and college students. Contact information is provided for each of the agencies. If you have general questions, please feel free to call us at the Volunteer Center at 410-897-9207 or e-mail us at . ALSO, please mention to the agency that the Volunteer Center sent you!
Thousands of books gather dust in storage rooms and attics, while thousands of students and adults in developing countries lack both textbooks and recreational reading. Volunteers are needed to help with packing and book sales from 8:00 am–12:00 noon on the second and fourth Saturdays each month. Groups are welcome as well. Please contact Joyce at 703-919-0069 or Steve Frantzich at 410-293-6865 or if you are interested in volunteering. Volunteering is at the B.I.G. warehouse at 2000 Capital Drive in Annapolis. For more information, visit our website: www.big-books.org.
Footworks is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to operate and manage a full-time professional troupe that performs and teaches multi-cultural percussive dance with live acoustic music for theaters, arts festivals, schools, and community events. There is an immediate need for website assistance for migrating the existing website to a new Content Management System. Volunteer help is also needed to help with fundraising and public relations. A volunteer with graphic design experience is needed to assist in creating promotional pieces for new production. For more information and to volunteer (volunteers must be 18 years old or older), contact Footworks at or 410-897-9299. Website: www.footworks.org.
Volunteers are needed to provide excellent customer service as they greet donors and serve refreshments to blood donors at area blood drives. There is an American Red Cross Donation center located in Glen Burnie; community blood drives are located throughout Anne Arundel County. Students must be 15 years of age or older. There is an application to complete and a training to attend. Volunteers over 18 years of age must pass a background check. Contact: Terry Ann Karloff at 410-764-4602 or 1-800-272-0094 or . Website: www.redcrossblood.org/gcp.
HOPE for All is a non-profit Christian ministry serving families in need in the north AA County and also the Appalachian region by collecting and distributing donated school supplies, household goods and furniture, and clothing. Volunteers of high school age and over are welcome on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9:30am to 3pm to sort donated clothing, furniture, and yard sale items as well as to help with warehouse cleanup. If under 16, you must be accompanied by a parent and if in a group, you must be accompanied by an adult supervisor. If you are 18 and over, you can help with pickups and deliveries (same days but from 8am to 12noon). If you are interested in volunteering, contact Hope for All at 410-766-0372 or . The phones are only staffed on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays but you can leave a message and they will get back to you. Website: www.hopeforall.us.
The mission of the Center of Help is to promote self-sufficiency and the successful integration of the immigrant Hispanic population into the greater community of Anne Arundel County. Come join their Homework Club and assist students of the ESOL program (English for Speakers of Other Languages) with their homework in English, Math, Science and other subjects. The Homework Club takes place at Center of Help offices on Saturdays from 10:00am to 12:00 noon. You do not need to speak or understand Spanish (although that’s a big plus). For more information or to volunteer, please contact Jorge at 410-295-3434/3435 or at . Website: centrodeayuda.org
Service-learning opportunities:
Volunteers are always needed to assist us in the Annapolis office, especially during the summer and winter months, when we run the Back to School and Holiday Sharing programs. The Back to School Program provides backpacks and school supplies through donors to elementary school students that are on the free and reduced lunch list. There may be an opportunity during the Back to School Program for volunteers to assist with packing backpacks and school supplies and deliver backpacks to schools (varies from year to year). The Holiday Sharing Program provides families and seniors in need with Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and/or gifts. Students will have the opportunity to enter family and senior wish lists’ into our data system, answer and make phone calls, hand out gift cards, and deliver gifts. Students 14 years or older are welcome to volunteer in our office. Contact Tanya Steele Clements at or 410-269-4461.
Hints for the Volunteer
Talk to a few organizations that have opportunities that meet your interests. In addition to discussing their volunteer opportunities, also ask them about their mission, what they do, who they serve. Make sure you are comfortable with the organization as a whole as well as with your specific volunteer duties. Find out how your volunteer work contributes to their mission and goals. Remember, in addition to the organization interviewing you, you should be interviewing the organization. Look around until you find an organization that you like that has a volunteer opportunity you feel is just right for you.
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