Volunteer Opportunities
Community Opportunities:
Anderson Tutoring Center! → Come help the AHS Tutoring Center in the library after school from 4:45-6 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Anderson students really appreciate all your help!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050848adaf2ca7fe3-tutoring1#/
Donate Blood → If you are eligible (17 years old and 115 lbs), you can still donate blood for NHS credit. As the pandemic stretches further, more hospitals are in need of blood yet less and less people are stepping up to donate. This is a great way to help the community! Donating blood counts as 2 NHS hours. **Note: This does require going out into the community, so it is important to check with your parents first. The “We Are Blood” homepage has information about donating during the Shelter in Place that you should check out.
We Are Blood (more of a local option): https://weareblood.org/
American Red Cross (great option also): https://www.redcrossblood.org/
Central Texas Food Bank→ This organization fights hunger in Central Texas and they really appreciate volunteers. Sign-up below:
https://www.centraltexasfoodbank.org/get-involved/volunteer
Individual Opportunities (AT HOME): 2 Notes = 1 hour
Notes for a Nursing Home → The residents at Windsor Nursing and Rehabilitation
Center of Duval here in Austin are not allowed outside visitors - even their own family - during this precautionary period of infection potential. Please, if you are able to sign up and promise to write a letter or note or card and send it to one of these 213 humans without visits - it would help them to feel so special and "seen". Scroll down to get to the available slots.
https://signup.com/client/invitation2/secure/3234870/false#/invitation
Color A Smile → Color A Smile is a nonprofit organization that distributes cheerful
drawings to Senior Citizens, Our Troops Overseas, and anyone in need of a smile. All you have to do is print some coloring pages and send them to the address provided. More details at the link below. If you need stamps, they sell them at places like H-E-B, Office Depot, or stamps.com
https://colorasmile.org/volunteer/instructions---young-adults.html
Smithsonian → The Smithsonian Digital Volunteer program engages the public in making its collections more accessible. Digital volunteers transcribe historic documents and collection records to facilitate research and preserve these valuable assets for future generations. At the link below, click “Get Started Now” in orange font.
Bookshare → Bookshare offers thousands of books to people with reading disabilities.
As an online volunteer you can either scan books to be added to the collection or edit books that have been scanned.
https://www.bookshare.org/cms/get-involved/volunteer/opportunities-us
GenerationOn → At the link below, you can find various at-home volunteering projects. You can filter it by age group and budget
https://www.generationon.org/projects-and-causes/volunteer-home
Translators Without Borders → Do you know another language? Translators Without
Borders recruits volunteers who want to translate texts into different languages for NGOs and nonprofits.
https://translatorswithoutborders.org/volunteer/
Amnesty Decoders → Amnesty Decoders is an innovative platform for volunteers around the world to use their computers or phones to help our researchers sift through pictures, information and documents. Join a global network of digital volunteers helping us research and expose human rights violations. Scroll to the bottom at the link below to register.
https://decoders.amnesty.org/#current-project
Cards for Soldiers → Cards for Soldiers is a non-profit with the mission to send handmade, blank cards and signed Christmas, Thank You, and Get Well Cards to deployed units or service members overseas for the soldiers to use to write to family and friends.
https://greetingcardsforsoldiers.blogspot.com/p/how-to-help.html
Donate to COVID-19 Relief → There are so many organizations that need help during this time. If you are able, it would be a huge help! We can’t fit every organization here, but a few of them are listed below. Any donation you make equates to 1 hour for NHS (that’s the maximum).
Feeding America:
Mobile Loaves and Fishes:
https://give.mlf.org/give/138838/#!/donation/checkout
Red Cross (click on the button on the left-hand menu):
Central Texas Food Bank: