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“SHARE Charlotte made searching and securing service opportunities so easy, it was a one stop shop and so efficient and helpful" - Charlotte neighbor
Intro
The benefits of volunteering in college (from a senior at UNCC):
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Volunteering can help you gain real world experience and skills that employers like to see.
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It looks great on your resume!
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It can help expand your professional network vastly.
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It’s a great way to explore different career options.
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Last but not least, it makes you feel good! Volunteering has been shown to reduce stress and improve mental health!!!
Low-Involvement Volunteer Opportunities
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These are opportunities that can be done in 1-2 hrs or done from home and dropped off at the nonprofit’s location.
Care Ring
– To provide health services for the uninsured, underinsured, or those lacking access to affordable, high-quality health care.
– Supply Drive for Care Ring Patients: Donate (and/or collect from people or businesses you know in the community) items such as deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, hand soap, body wash/soap, shampoo, over-the-counter first aid and pain relief medications, and other similar items.
Champion House of Care Project One, Inc.
– Mission: To reduce the extreme challenges that homeless families face when providing lifelong care for loved ones with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
– Fighting Hunger: Purchase snacks such as crackers, fruit cups, and water for children who have nothing to eat.
Charlotte Family Housing
– Mission: To empower working families experiencing homelessness to achieve long-term self-sufficiency through shelter, housing, supportive services, and advocacy.
– Welcome Basket Collection and Assembly: Build a "Welcome Basket" full of new linens, fresh bedding and towels, and other household items.
Classroom Central
– Mission: To foster equity in education by providing teachers and students with the free resources they need to succeed.
– Write Notes of Encouragement for Teachers and Students: Share positivity this school year and write 10 different notes of encouragement to students or teachers.
Crisis Assistance Ministry
– Mission: To provide assistance and advocacy for people in financial crisis, helping them achieve self-sufficiency.
– Snack Ministry: Purchase, assemble, and drop off snack bags/packs for families seeking financial assistance.
Faith in Action Community and Educational Transition (FACET) Services, Inc.
– Mission: To provide specialized resources to assist homeless women, and those at risk for becoming homeless, in the Charlotte community transition from homelessness toward independence.
– School Supply Drive: Help stuff backpacks for children of homeless women at the Salvation Army Center of Hope, the Harvest Center of Charlotte, and the YWCA's Families Together Program. Donations of folders, pencils, pens, loose leaf paper, composition books, 1 subject notebooks, crayons, highlighters, and post it notes will be accepted on site.
Hope Haven
– Mission: Provide a foundation of recovery for individuals and families impacted by substance use disorder so they can build healthy independent lives.
– Campus Beautification: Help revive Hope Haven’s campus by completing inside and outside beautification projects.
Hospitality House of Charlotte
– Mission: To create a community for patients connecting to vital medical care.
– Gardening Projects: Help landscape and garden the outdoor space at the House.
La Escuelita Bilingual Preschool
– Mission: To provide native Spanish-speaking preschool children in the Lake Norman area a solid foundation for kindergarten and elementary school by teaching them basic classroom language and social skills, exposing them to arts, science, and sports, and instilling in them a love for learning in a safe, loving bilingual classroom environment.
– Book Drive: Collect Spanish preschool books for the literacy component of a bilingual school.
Promising Pages
– Mission: To collect new and donated books and share them with children living in the Charlotte Area Book Desert: those with few books at home.
– Bookworm Buddies: Make an adorable bookworm meant to encourage young readers to read often and with a friend.
More Involved Volunteer Opportunities
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These opportunities require more of an ongoing time commitment
American Red Cross
– Mission: To provide compassionate care to those in need.
– Blood Drive Volunteer: Blood Donor Ambassadors greet donors, answer questions, and help in the canteen/snack area.
Charlotte New Music
– Mission: To promote the creation, performance, access, education, and opportunities in contemporary and original music artistry in Charlotte, NC area, and beyond.
– Fundraising to Bring Art to the People: There are a wide range of ways to contribute to Charlotte New Music’s fundraising efforts and they would welcome additions to their team who are interested in creating something amazing together and elevating the whole as you bring the power of music and art to the people.
Charlotte Pride
– Mission: To be a leader in LGBTQ visibility in Charlotte and the Carolinas.
– Volunteer for the Charlotte Pride Festival and Parade: Join a great group of volunteers as they plan and organize this year’s Charlotte Pride Festival and Parade.
Friends of Feral Felines
– Mission: To improve the lives of community cats through Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate, and Return (TNVR).
– Hotline: Answer calls from the community one day a week (a.m./p.m. blocks) giving them information about Trap-Neuter/spay-Vaccinate-Return (TNVR) in the Charlotte, NC area.
Habitat for Humanity of the Charlotte Region
– Mission: To build strength, stability, and self-reliance by partnering with families and communities in New Home Construction, Critical Home Repair, and Neighborhood Revitalization.
– Construction Volunteer Opportunities: Help build homes, repair homes, and serve Charlotte’s low-income families. No prior construction experience is necessary.
Heart Math Tutoring
– Mission: To link an untapped pool of volunteers and the thousands of students who need one-on-one academic supports.
– Weekly Elementary Math Tutor: Be matched with a student from select elementary schools throughout Charlotte who needs extra support in math. Volunteers tutor their students once per week throughout the school year.
NC MedAssist
– Mission: To provide access to lifesaving prescription medications, patient support, advocacy, and related services to vulnerable and uninsured North Carolina residents.
– Sort, Organize & Assemble OTC Medicines: Help unpack, sort, inventory, and repack our over-the-counter medicines to be distributed to people in need. Help is needed in the mornings and afternoons.
Project Scientist
– Mission: To expose under-resourced girls to the joys and possibilities of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.
– STEM Superstars: Share your personal and professional story in science, technology, engineering or math, to empower girls to see themselves in you and to know that there is a place in STEM for them.
Supportive Housing Communities
– Mission: To provide affordable housing to alleviate homelessness and human suffering.
– Young Professionals Board: Become a member of a Young Professionals Board (YPB) that will raise awareness and support for the organization’s mission.
Wing Haven
– Mission: To provide a natural oasis for the reflection and study of its three public gardens, Southern horticulture, birds, and wildlife.
– Wing Haven Host: Greet Wing Haven visitors during garden open hours at Elizabeth Lawrence's historic house and share its history.