Happy National Volunteer Month!

Crystal Bruce

😍: It's National Volunteer Month (US) and I thought it would be fun if everyone shared what organizations they volunteer for!

It can be your own organization or another, but I'd love to hear where you spend your volunteer time and why that cause is so important to you.

We’d also love to hear about your volunteer engagement program—what does it look like, and how does it support your efforts to give back?

Carlene Johnson

I volunteer for Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, Camp Calumet, and also provide pro-bono services to Ascentria Care Alliance, and Lutheran World Relief. I also volunteer in a peer‑led recovery organization, which is deeply connected to my values of service and community care. All of these organizations are rooted in my faith tradition and give me meaningful ways to live out my values through service.

JoAnn Strommen

I volunteer with International Students, Inc (ISI). I coordinate welcome baskets for arriving students and the Christmas gift bag projects. I'm also part of the kitchen crew for our weekly meals. ISI purpose is to share Christ’s love with international students and to equip them for effective service.
I also serve on the International House Board which oversees the building used by ISI.

Amy Barker

I volunteer for a little local camp called Hearty Roots. My daughter is their program director and no one there has a lot of database experience. So I have been helping them streamline and document some policies and procedures for gift and constituent entry so that those who are new to nonprofits can be sure they're entering things right.

Also in my free time I serve on the board of Wicked Arts Maine, and help organize Wicked Burning, Maine's regional Burning Man event. And I am also on the board of the International Appalachian Trail.

From the looks of it all I have a lot of free time, but I just don't sleep much. :)

Sunshine Reinken Watson

I just started volunteering for my regional Dysautonomia International Facebook group. I highly value creating community that is safe, especially to provide support for people who are struggling with specific hardships.

Heather Pauli

I've volunteered for Michigan Humane as needed in capacities outside of my normal Administration duties; for almost 20 years, the jobs have been everything from washing laundry, dishes and litter pans, working at events and media interviews, processing vaccines and handling animals, fostering babies, even evacuating animals during a disaster. Somewhat self-serving, but unusually fun as I don't usually get to be around animals!

Judy Schwickerath

There have been several volunteer activities over the years, but my current one is my favorite. I work at a food pantry getting the food from the backroom out to the floor as the clients are filling their cart. It is so rewarding to be part of the Middleton Wayforward Resources team providing a basic need. Frankly, I don't recall ever going to bed hungry, so I want to work to end that problem faced by so many in the community.

Chris Fedor

I volunteer for the Indiana Arthritis Foundation. I used to think arthritis was just a basic disease that everyone gets as they age, but my son was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis when he was just 5 years old and I learned a lot about the disease and how horrible it is. There are quite a varieties of the disease and the Arthritis Foundation helped educate me, provide resources to give to teachers, and connected us with other families so my son knew he wasn't alone as a kid with arthritis. I have volunteered for several years to help organize our annual gala event that raises money for the Arthritis Foundation and all the good things they do.

Amanda Olsen

After many years of volunteering, I have had a recent opportunity to assist in food drives with All Faiths Food Bank, Sarasota County. The drive happens at Senior Friendship Centers in Venice, FL and can serve as many as 60 plus cars in one morning. The drivers may pick up for themselves, neighbors or others without transportation. The work is physical, demanding and so worth it!

Spring Velazquez

I have volunteered for years, with several local organizations in different verticals (animal rescue, child welfare, employment re-entry) whose names I won't list right now and you'll understand why in a minute. I provide their website support - if they need a site built, or pages updated and/or added I can do it from home at odd hours or when I"m available. But this past year I found myself in a position where I wasn't able to get out to the sites to volunteer and was missing it tremendously.

When the current prezzident took office and the crew of young bucks run by the owner of .X. started targeting nonprofit organizations that received federal funds-who also promoted the 3 alphabet letters that were deemed against the administration's belief system, it took me a bit to understand how they were identifying these orgs so quickly. Then I realized they were just using keyword bots (which was later confirmed). Sooooo I contacted the organizations that I volunteered for and explained why they might be identified as one who should lose its funding. None of them wanted to remove these words because they were fundamental to their mission and vision and beliefs and we all felt it would be disingenuous to do so just to keep getting the funding. I picked my millenial daughter's brain for some clues on how to hide items in plain sight and came up with a cryptogram list of ways to keep these terms on the websites that bots couldn't identify but real people could "read". As a result Diversity=d!v3r$!ty, equality=30ua1!+y and so on. Plus the fact that I could do it from home made me feel useful again.

After helping the orgs I volunteered with the word spread and my daughter and I ended up replacing targeted keywords on about 20 other organzation websites and then delivered the keyword cryptogram sheet to about 30 more. From what we have heard not a single one of those organizations lost any federal funding and continue to stay open despite what the world has and is experiencing.

It was also quite satisfying if I do say so 😎 It also proves that if you're not in a space where you're able to get out and volunteer in person, you can still make a world of difference from the solace of your own space.

Rachel Kauer

I volunteer with the Pawling Historical Society, an experience that has allowed me to reconnect with a lifelong love of history. I studied history in college, but after graduating, I never had the opportunity to pursue it further - until a teacher at the school I worked at encouraged me to get involved as a volunteer. Working with the Historical Society has been incredibly rewarding. I love learning new things about Pawling’s local history, serving as a docent and teaching grade schoolers about their town, and having the privilege of helping care for and plan for so many historic buildings in the community. I’ve worked with many wonderful nonprofits, but this is the first time I’ve been able to volunteer in an area I’m truly passionate about, and that has made the experience especially meaningful.

Mallory Burgan

I volunteer as a member of my town's Recreation Committee, and we plan community events and raise money to improve our parks and playgrounds. We've been working to add new accessible playground equipment to all our playgrounds over the past few years. I also volunteer with my local library to sort books for a massive used booksale they have every April, but that also has a huge perk of being able to set aside books I want to buy in advance to add to my collection!

Sara Niemiec

I'm donating blood for the first time on Tuesday, April 14th. Needles scare me, but I'm facing my fears! I've never been in a situation to need a transfusion, but if something happened to me, all I'd think about is my family. If my donation can help keep a family together after a terrible injury, then let's go. Bring it on!

Edit: I just finished donating blood. One of my co-workers took the above picture.

Elizabeth Johnson

@Sara Niemiec as someone that has needed a transfusion in the past thank you! I'll be thinking of you Tuesday!

I learned so much reading this thread and am in awe! Can't wait to read the other responses as they come into my inbox.

My mom was a volunteer so I always volunteer for something it is hereditary and can be learned! Currently I volunteer where I work when I can to teach students and employees to spin yarn and do other fibery goodness. I love doing this as people are stressed out and the worse thing that happens when it doesn't work is that it isn't yarn. Sometimes just hearing you have nothing to lose by trying is theraputic in itself. Once you actually make yarn (stays together) You can not do it wrong. You might not get what you are trying for in the beginning but novelty yarn is real. Repetative work is healing. When it goes right you can make something that makes someone happy and that person could be you! I either make things for gifts or I donate the sale of items 100% back to the school's fiber arts program.

My other volunteer gig is I help run the Northern New Englad RE Users Group along with some amazing folks! I think you can all understand why I do that 🤣. Most of what I do in the Community here is on my own time as well. I think that counts.

Adrienne Cruise

I volunteer for the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. I love theatre and support it in my free time. In the past I was a Girl Scout Leader. I would love to start a new troop in the next few years.

Keith Wilson

I volunteer at my church, my workplace, my son's ScoutingAmerica Troop, his Band Booster Club, and for friends and family that need a helping hand. I have a difficult time saying "No!" to any request for help! I'm sure there's no one else in this community that can relate to that, right?!? Yeeeaahhhhh…..thought so! LOL! Kudos to all the Volunteers out there! ❤️

Jack Briggs

I volunteer at a lot of sport events, because it works perfectly for time commitment (i.e. a day or weekend rather than long term), and I usually get a new t-shirt for my gym stash 😉

Hallie Guiseppe

Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of taking a group of Alvernia University students to Bethlehem Farm for a week of service. What began as my role as a peer minister advisor quickly became something much more. It feels like a second home.

At Bethlehem Farm, we experience what true community looks like. Much like the Blackbaud Community, we work side by side, sharing our talents and learning from one another. That work extends beyond the farm itself and into the surrounding Appalachian community, where the impact is both humbling and meaningful. I look for any opportunity to return.

Service is a core value at Alvernia, and it’s woven into the student experience. Volunteer service is a graduation requirement, supported by the Holleran Center for Community and Global Engagement, which coordinates days of service, Alternative Break trips, and recognizes students who go above and beyond in their commitment to serving others.

It’s incredibly rewarding to be part of a community that not only encourages service but truly lives it.

Audrey Kidwell

I am a PTO MOM! Most of my free time goes to my child's school, however I love volunteering with Epsilon Sigma Alpha and Tallahassee/Leon County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.

Elizabeth Johnson

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/312765#Comment_312765

I love that you edited this with an update! Rock on Sara!!!!!!!!

Dan Snyder

I volunteer for Salem Community Foundation, my church, the annual April Fools Race, and my kids sports teams. I grew up in Salem (NY) and live here now and while the Salem Community Foundation is new, all of these things were a part of what I think makes Salem a great place to live. Others pitched in when I was growing up and now it's my turn and while it can be stressful planning events it is very rewarding too.

Miki Martin

My husband and I are actually pondering some new things to do since we are now empty nesters. For many years I have been involved in the music ministry of my parish; music has always been very rewarding for me and the best way I know to worship. In the last couple of years my husband and I have become more involved in our local chapter of Retrouvaille, as well. I have taken over managing their database and am working to clean up their data so it's more useful for everyone with access.

Rachel Cavalier

I've previously been involved in my church choir but mainly for the last 15+ years I've been the secretary for the local branch (which operated out of my parish) of an organisation the supports vocations to priesthood and religious life. When the pandemic started we switched to meeting online via Zoom and then continued to do so in the winter months when it's tough for some of our members to drive over in the dark. Now and then I get called upon for my tech support skills to help troubleshoot when anyone has trouble connecting.

Maria Soares

I started volunteering at our Food Bank almost twenty years ago, a journey that shaped my life and eventually led me into my current role. Volunteers are truly the heart of our Food Bank and strengthen every part of our work. They support food access, help with operations, engage with the community, contribute to advocacy efforts, and play an important role in donor stewardship. Their generosity, compassion, and commitment make our mission possible, and I am endlessly grateful for all they do for our community.

Tina Godsey

I am trying to build a non profit that focuses on authentic representation of people with disabilities in arts, media, and entertainment. At the moment, we are focused on awareness and education, but we would love to build more programming that brings people together for creative endeavors that put people with disabilities at the forefront.

We have decent luck pulling together people for last minute needs or extra hands here and there at small events, but we struggle to get people to be active board members who have the bandwidth to fundraise and plan events.

One of the most helpful things we get people to do is share some of the work we have done and talk about our main sponsors. We are EverybodyOne, and we are often hosted by The Good Vibe LLC, and we have worked together to create and publish The Hunt for the Holiday Spirit. "The Hunt…" started as a holiday pageant at a local adult day activities and care facility, but my friend had a vision and wrote 20+ episode scripts for future development. We recently published a children's book for The Hunt for the Holiday Spirit, but a major goal is to do a full animated production featuring voice actors of people with disabilities. We also hope to develop it into a pageant script that could be used by schools and other day facilities.

We need help from skilled web designers, script writers, and production staff, but we don't have a budget to pay for them without some serious fundraising. We are kind of in a catch 22 where we need financial support to create more, but it is hard to get financial support if you aren't creating "enough" already.

Spring Velazquez

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/312949#Comment_312949

Supporting your local community is what it's about! When you build that infrastructure of neighbors helping neighbors it makes it that much harder for anyone to divide you

Joan Perry

I volunteer for my sorority as a review of educational assistance grants, helping young women with their post-secondary and graduation educational expenses.

Lauren Henderson

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/312765#Comment_312765

Sara, thank you for donating! I wasn't considering this as volunteerism, but I do donate blood regularly. I learned that I never caught a very common virus (and don't have antibodies in my blood), so my blood is safe to be used for newborn babies. That is very gratifying, having been a NICU baby myself, knowing that I may now be able to help others.