Volunteer Work

[Bob's Fries]

So let's share what volunteer work or whatever you did that goes to the benefit to your community.

I volunteered at a Senior Center when I was in high school. (Got to play the Wii for the first time there, but it was mostly for the elderly's use to get some motor movement going on.) And then at a Protestant Church to help set up activities for mentally disabled people. That's pretty much all I did in those days besides schoolwork and fucking around on the internet. How about you guys?

 

[champthom]

I'm not crazy about volunteer work. I've done it as a Boy Scout and what would happen is that one person would be like "Don't worry, I can do everything!" while everyone else would just stand around and do nothing.

 

[Bob's Fries]

I'm not crazy about volunteer work. I've done it as a Boy Scout and what would happen is that one person would be like "Don't worry, I can do everything!" while everyone else would just stand around and do nothing.

Yeah, that sucks. It was such a case for me sometimes.

 

[The Hunter]

Any volunteer work I do goes unlisted on my resume, as I don't really consider it volunteer work until I've spent 100 hours doing it. I used to volunteer from time to time as a kid because my cousin was a scout, and since Boy Scouts isn't so popular here, my dad had me keep in touch with the community as well as school & church related functions rather than doing the whole boy scout thing. I gave out free snow cones once as part of a local politician's campaign, but I don't think that really counts as volunteer work, even if it was in the triple digits and I wasn't being compensated for the work I did. Sometimes if I'm with a friend and they're doing something like community service, I'll pitch in just for the feeling of belonging. I'd do it more often, but I don't really have a car of my own nor do I have the money to pay for gas, nor do I have the time now that my schedule's taken up by school. That and public transportation's a bitch around here. And I don't have the money for it either.

 

[Grand Number of Pounds]

This is a subject near and dear to my heart.

I volunteered for a local hospital for about 300 hours over the course of a year and a half. I was in central transportation helping patients in wheelchairs, then I scanned documents in patient accounts. I got a job after that and then went back to it from January till September 2012 working at the cancer desk giving directions and transporting patients in wheelchairs. Then from May to September I was in the pharmacy filing and sending meds and IVs up the pneumatic tube. And we always ran out of the freakin' tubes. I also put medicine in the slot for the dispensing robot.

For about half a year I volunteered in a classroom for ESL students. About half the students were Latino (mostly Colombian and Mexican, but we also had a Guatemalan) and the others were from around the world. We had a woman from Morocco who was very talkative, a man from Hong Kong, a Japanese man, a woman from Nepal, and others. There were about ten regular students. I wanted that position because I love languages and wanted to see what it was like to help people learn English.

I had an unpaid communications internship with the Canton mayor's office for a few months. Office work is boring.

I stopped volunteering because I got bored with it. I've been wanting to start with Habitat for Humanity, but right now they're only doing retail, which sounds boring. I'd like to learn how to build stuff. I also tried to get a position with the Red Cross but that didn't work out.

 

[The Hunter]

I've been wanting to start with Habitat for Humanity, but right now they're only doing retail, which sounds boring. I'd like to learn how to build stuff. I also tried to get a position with the Red Cross but that didn't work out.

I wanted to volunteer for them too, but I never got a chance, and my parents advised against it after I passed out from walking for a mile because I wasn't properly hydrated on a hot day. Red Cross sounds like fun too.

 

[Grand Number of Pounds]

My brother did some work with Habitat in high school because we had to volunteer for our government class. He painted, and the other kids had a paint war. We were one of the few high schools in the area to sponsor an entire house on our own.

I signed up for the Red Cross blood drive back in December but they never sent me the info packet. I guess I'll have to contact them again.

 

[The Hunter]

My brother did some work with Habitat in high school because we had to volunteer for our government class. He painted, and the other kids had a paint war. We were one of the few high schools in the area to sponsor an entire house on our own.

I signed up for the Red Cross blood drive back in December but they never sent me the info packet. I guess I'll have to contact them again.

Wait, you mean your school MADE you volunteer? Man, I wish my school would have at least advised me to. I never really did find out how to get into the whole volunteering thing.

 

[Grand Number of Pounds]

It was an AP Government class, and yeah, we had to volunteer for 12 hours (24 hours total for the year) in the second and fourth quarters or be lowered a grade. In the first and third quarters we had to go to local government meetings. I'd rather volunteer because attending government meetings is like watching paint dry.

At the end of the year we had a senior day of service and we all had to volunteer instead of going to class. I volunteered at the local historical society, which is housed in an old one-room schoolhouse (which they think was built in the 1860s) not too far from the high school. This one guy was excited because he volunteered at a nursing home and thought he was going to play poker with old people.

At one time, in Ohio, they wanted to make it mandatory that every high school graduate had to volunteer for a certain number of hours (I think it was 500), but they decided against it and did the senior service day instead.

I got into volunteering by searching my local United Way website and found some places that needed volunteers. I thought at the time I'd like to get into healthcare so I volunteered at a hospital. Most nonprofits need volunteers from time to time, and except for the Red Cross I haven't been turned down for a position yet.

 

[MysticMisty]

I spent the summer between junior and senior years of high school volunteering to help teach special ed students between the ages of 16 and 20 (or so) how to be independent. Except for two kids with aspergers who were basically normal the other kids were severely retarded (three of them were barely responsive) so there was no way they could ever be properly independent, just able to do a few basic household tasks to make it easier for their caretakers. Ultimately there wasn't much for me to do except sit and talk with them. The person in charge was a bitch and treated everyone like kindergartners (even the adult volunteers). All the volunteers resented her. So did the two near-normal kids, for that matter.

I was in Girl Scouts until middle school, but we barely volunteered. We sang Christmas carols to homeless people once, and at a nursing home (except that was really stupid because we walked up and down a hall once and then left). One time another girl and myself were volunteered by our troop leader to help a different troop one or two years younger than us learn how to do something related to a ceremony that involved flags, I think. I don't really remember because when we showed up the troop leader decided not to have us demonstrate because they had to learn to do it themselves, and she didn't want us to help with their other current project either. So we basically sat in a corner until their meeting ended and we got to go home too. Another time my whole troop was volunteered to help the youngest level of girls make chocolate-dipped bananas. This was more convenient for us since we were at the same location that day doing a different task for a different patch. It was the opposite of the other time the other girl and I "helped" because this time we all had to do everything for these girls. Except they got a patch for making chocolate-dipped bananas just by watching us and we didn't get anything related to helping them.

Currently I volunteer for "Friends of the Library", an independent group that sells books to raise money for the county library. They want to give everyone who offers to volunteer a task even when it's obvious they don't have any positions. So I stock the children's books for sale on a cart at the local library every other Friday. Stocking the cart is a one, maybe two person job, but there are at least four people (counting myself) who stock the cart. And the old lady who "trained" me couldn't even remember what she had just told me minutes before so I'm a touch worried that she might have not told me everything I needed to know. I think I'd rather stock books at the library since pricing and putting a few books on the cart doesn't take more than a half hour to do.

 

[Scarfies]

The last place I worked would send groups out at night and give out food/blankets to the homeless. Saw some crazy shit, got jumped once or twice, nothing major. Did some nursing home work as well, but that was way too depressing.

 

[sparklemilhouse]

I volunteered at my library 7 years ago. Unfortunately, it ended on a sad note. I quit because this mentally unstable man tried to fight me, and the library employees went "boo hoo! He's mentally ill! He didn't mean it!" Instead of looking out for the safety of their volunteers/employees. So I left.

I volunteered at the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Va before my senior year at college. I greeted patrons and when there was downtime I got to walk around the museum. That was fun. I wish I could work in a museum but nobody is hiring or if they are, you need a masters degree.

 

[Horse Boots]

I volunteered at a local elementary school and worked in one of the 5th grade classrooms for a few hours each week. Worked with students on an individual basis who were struggling with their homework, working on a project, and so on. As the class got to know me better they'd ask me to stick around for P.E. or recess, and sometimes I would (I'm homeschooled, so I had that sort of flexibility during the day). Did that for two consecutive school years.

Last summer I did volunteer work at a community center for underprivileged kids. The program I worked in focused on children who struggled academically, particularly with reading. It was a couple hours long, around lunch time three days a week. The kids would come in, we'd play some games outside, and then come in and serve them lunch. After they were done eating we would work on reading books with them.

I currently volunteer at my church, playing various instruments in the church bands or running sound/tech stuff.

 

[c-no]

The volunteer work I did was at a park near my home but it was part of a school assignment I had (You needed to get a certain amount of community service, it was part of my school's curriculum due to being college-prep.) Mostly picking up trash, though the last one I did at another park was setting up a turkey trot.

Also bagged some canned food at a warehouse with my mother ( I believe the retail store she worked at gave employee's opportunities to do community service, especially with family members.)

Last thing I did for volunteer work was doing a health food giveaway with the health class I attend at college. I was with people who wash fruit and veggies. Some of us also took other roles as "protestors" (you hold a sign that had a saying like "Fight Free Radicals") and security (You tell people where they can't go, tell them to get in line.)

 

[GFYS]

I assist with free women's self defense courses, lead by one of my instructors. I do volunteer time with various NRA youth programs and events. That's pretty much it. Any other time I'm doing good deeds, with no return on investment, it's probably court ordered. Meh, I'm just not a charitable person.

 

[Smokedaddy]

You all are SO FREAKING COOL. Damb.

I never did shit, volunteer-wise. I feel small.

 

[Bob's Fries]

You all are SO FREAKING COOL. Damb.

I never did shit, volunteer-wise. I feel small.

Nah. You can still contribute to society in other ways, I'm sure. Speaking of which... I just wish Chris could at least put forth 4 hours of Volunteer Work a day.

 

[Equal Rights for Androids]

Bout to revive a real old thread for a question: Anyone else volunteer for the red cross? I used to in 2019-2020 and did some good work with veterans and handing out food and Disaster Action Response. But I recently signed up again and holy fuck they're constantly badgering you for shit. They want you to take all these training courses, they want you to attend unnecessary region meetings, they call you on fucking Easter to tell you about those meetings, they want you to have so many hours each month. What the fuck happened to the red cross?

Thread tax: I used to volunteer to drive cancer patients to their cancer therapy. Covid hit and wiped that volunteering out. Used to volunteer at an animal shelter but after COVID, their kennels filled up with pitbulls and it's not really worth going over there anymore because they try to push me to walk dogs instead of helping cats or doing laundry. I help teach at the uni for free. And I advocate for rape victims. Our church group occasionally goes out and cleans up our city graffiti with the police, or clean up a disabled person's yard/house. Building kitchens n stuff.