Community service
can involve fundraising, providing supplies or offering your time to assist young children and animals.
Volunteers of all ages can find local and worldwide community service opportunities to provide assistance to young children and animals. Whether you have supplies, funding or time to offer, charitable organizations offer different options for assisting in their work serving the needs of animals and young children.
The ASPCA
The ASPCA has branches in most communities and provides a number of suggestions for providing assistance to animals in your neighborhood and community. You could contact your local ASPCA to see if there are some common household items such as old towels, sheets and blankets that they could use for bedding. You can also help make your community aware of the option of adopting a pet by picking up some posters at your local ASPCA and putting them on bulletin boards and in windows at local community centers and businesses. Your local shelter might even have an opening for you to volunteer a few hours a week assisting the shelter's employees in caring for the animals.
Animal Humane Society
The Animal Humane Society recommends assisting them in their work with animals by holding a fundraiser and donating the proceeds. The Society often needs funds to provide emergency medical treatment for injured animals or for the costs incurred from taking in new animals. You could also gather friends and/or neighbors and have a craft day on which you make toys and supplies for the variety of animals (dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, etc.) served by the Society. Common household items like newspapers, plastic bags, cardboard paper rolls and even shredded paper can be used for a variety of purposes by the Animal Humane Society.
Big Brothers Big Sisters
Big Brothers Big Sisters is founded upon the idea that every child who needs a hand can be helped immensely by interacting with successful members of the community. Prospective mentors select whether they would prefer to work with a boy or girl, but mentors (especially male) are always more needed for working with boys. Mentors spend a few hours per week with a child, providing tutoring or just a fun outing to a place or event of interest. Prospective volunteer mentors should be prepared to have a background check, provide references and meet with an area staff member for an interview before being placed with a child to mentor.
World Community Service
For teens looking to offer community service, participating in world community service can be an exciting and educational opportunity. There are a few organizations devoted to matching young people with world service options, and the Adventures Cross-Country organization provides the option of world service as well as U.S. service options. For work with young children, this organization offers a "service adventure" in Egypt that combines working on a project developed by the United Nations for assisting the street children of Cairo, visiting the major historical attractions, volunteering in an orphanage in Luxor and sailing, scuba and camel riding adventures. This four-week opportunity provides each participant with 40 hours of community service.
Tags: community service, Animal Humane, Animal Humane Society, Humane Society, work with, young children