If you are looking for a chance to give back to the community, volunteer opportunities are available for teenagers, adults and senior citizens to make a difference. Young volunteers, such as teenagers and 20-somethings, contribute their time to visiting and assisting senior citizens in nursing homes or building houses for impoverished neighborhoods. Meanwhile, senior citizens join docent programs at museums and art galleries to impart their knowledge of current exhibits.
Elderly Care
Elderly care volunteer work consists of donating your time at nursing homes to entertain or attend to elderly people. A statistic from the National Center for Health Statistics reveals approximately 50 percent of nursing home residents do not have immediate family members and more than 60 percent of elderly people in nursing homes never receive visitors. Volunteer activities in nursing homes include dining with homes' residents, exercise and playing board games. Also, volunteers are able to help coordinate events for nursing home residents, such as picnics, field trips and music entertainment nights.
Libraries
Nearly all public -- city or county -- libraries offers volunteer opportunities for teenagers, adults and senior citizens. Possible volunteer activities at a library include assisting with craft projects in the children's library, developing bulletin boards and aiding customers with searches on the Internet and library catalog. Some libraries offer reading programs throughout the year for children and adults; volunteers help coordinate and publicize these events.
Docents
Docent volunteers usually work at museums, zoos and art galleries. These type of volunteers are educators who offer their insight in order to further the public's knowledge about the exhibits. Docents can work as guides and they teach classes and workshops. Each docent must go through a training program, conducted by the museum for which they are volunteering, to learn about the individual pieces throughout the museum. Docents have access to resources via the National Docent Symposium; this organization is split into various regions and have local offices throughout the country .
Public Access Television
Public Access Television's headquarters is based in Iowa City, Iowa, but it offers local branches throughout the country. This type of work caters to volunteers who are interested in pursuing a career in the field of television production or communications. Volunteer work at Public Access Television includes camera work, marketing, organization of tape or DVD materials and assisting in the audio and editing processes. Depending on the location, training for volunteers is free of charge, but some public access stations require volunteers to pay a fee for training.
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