All across the country, volunteers are working 16-hours days on Hurricane Katrina and Rita relief efforts. They need a break! Your local chapter of the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, NAACP, National Council of La Raza, Urban League, etc., as well as community faith-based organizations need people to come in and spend an hour or two answering the telephone, making photocopies, assembling ‘comfort kits,’ and the like.
If you have telephoned your favorite charity this month to volunteer and they have not returned your phone call, it is because they are stretched thin. Look up their address (many nationally based nonprofits have a zip-code chapter locator on their web site’s home page), determine when it is most convenient for you to drop in (for example, on the way to work, during your lunch hour, before grocery shopping), and just do it. You won’t be turned away.
Visit these two web sites to find volunteer opportunities in your community:
Network for Good also has ten tips on how to become a volunteer:
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