Events & Projects

People Served/Type of Services: Life Transitions, Homelessness

Types of Help Needed: Events and Projects

Service Opportunity Details: Volunteer opportunities are broken into two categories – warehouse and deco days. (1) Warehouse volunteers sort, reorganize and pull furniture and goods for our upcoming families. (2) Deco volunteers meet at the family’s home in Chicago (typically south or west side) from 9:30–3 p.m. and clean, furnish, decorate then greet the family when they return to see their transformed home.

Location:

Volunteer Ages: Families with teens, Teens, Young adults, Adults, Groups

Frequency: Periodic

Frequency Details: (1) Warehouse volunteer times are Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays 10 a.m.–2 p.m. The warehouse volunteer times are open for signup about one month out. If a volunteer is not able to commit for the full four-hour time frame, we just ask volunteers to make a note when signing up. (2) Deco days are Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30 a.m.–3 p.m. Sign-up for these days are listed the week beforehand.

Contact Info: Alicia Enriquez,  773-285-2800

Other Information: Volunteers must sign up online here for specific dates. They can volunteer as their schedule allows. First time volunteers are asked to sign up for a warehouse day before signing up for a deco day. This serves as a volunteer training and orientation. Groups can arrange to do a sponsored Day of Service farther in advance.

People Served/Type of Services: Urgent Services, Community Services, Food Insecurity

Types of Help Needed: Events & Projects

Service Opportunity Details: Christopher House’s food pantry focuses on providing staple food items for our families in addition to fresh fruits and vegetables that are often out of reach due to higher costs. You can support our food pantry through cash donations or by organizing a food drive. It only takes $1,500 to stock our food pantry every month and support our families. Your support would ensure hundreds of children and adults don’t go hungry.

Location: Chicago-Belmont Cragin, Logan Square

Volunteer Ages: Families with teens, Teens, Young Adults, Adults, Groups

Frequency: One-time, Periodic

Frequency Details: Food pantry is run twice a month throughout the academic year.

Contact Info: Staff: Judith O’Callahan, 773-922-7500

Other Information:

People Served/Type of Services: Urgent Services, Homelessness, Domestic Abuse

Types of Help Needed: Events and Projects

Service Opportunity Details: Volunteer assistance needed with landscaping, organizing, cleaning, or sorting at YWCA’s domestic violence shelter.

Location: Evanston/North Shore

Volunteer Ages: Young adults, Adults, Groups

Frequency: One-time, Periodic, On-going

Frequency Details: Depends on activity

Contact Info: Staff: Trimmy Stamell, 847-864-8445 ext. 121

Other Information:

People Served/Type of Services: Urgent Services, Homelessness, Domestic Abuse, Food Insecurity

Types of Help Needed: Events and projects, In-kind Donations

Service Opportunity Details: Sarah’s Circle readily accepts donations of toiletry kits. These kits supplement the services and items provided at Sarah’s Circle, as women often rely on them when they are not in our space. Sarah’s Circle accepts toiletry kits in quantities of 25 or more. These must include: soap, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion (all travel sized). Other items may (but are not required to) include: toothpaste, toothbrush, floss, q-tips, Kleenex, cough drops, etc. All kits provided should include the same items.

Location: Chicago-North Side

Volunteer Ages: Families with young children, Families with teens, Young adults, Adults, Groups

Frequency: One-time, Periodic

Frequency Details: Volunteers can provide toiletry kits on a one-time basis or periodically.

Contact Info: Staff: Dakota Chisholm, Volunteer Coordinator, 773-728-1014 ext. 314

Other Information:

People Served/Type of Services: Healthcare, Mental Health

Types of Help Needed: Events and Projects

Service Opportunity Details: Work with other volunteers, SCC staff, and board members to plan and implement various types of fundraisers and special events. Willingness to work on an event sub-committee(s) including but not limited to: venue, food, decorations, sponsors, marketing, promotion, live/silent auction, entertainment and printing. Attend event planning meetings.

Location: Winnetka

Volunteer Ages: Adults

Frequency: On-going

Frequency Details: Several months before the event

Contact Info: Staff: Anita Scott, 847-446-6957 ext.16

Other Information:

People Served/Type of Services: Community Services

Types of Help Needed: Events & Projects

Service Opportunity Details: Support and volunteer at any of Breakthough’s annual events. Greater Food Depository Hunger Walk: gather a group and walk to help Breakthough earn money for its food pantry. Annual Benefit: host a table. Christmas Store: organize a gift drive or volunteer at the event.

Location: Chicago-East Garfield Park

Volunteer Ages: Families with young children Families with teens Teens Young adults Adults Groups

Frequency: One-time

Frequency Details: The Hunger Walk—9/7/2019, 7–11:30 a.m., Annual Benefit—10/25/2019, Christmas Store—12/14/2018

Contact Info: Staff: Jenny Kieser, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator, volunteer@breakthrough.org, 773-346-1772.

Other Information:

People Served/Type of Services: Education/Child and Adolescent Development, Teens

Types of Help Needed: Evens and Projects

Service Opportunity Details: Youth Guidance’s @Work events offer career exploration through a curriculum that aligns with its BAM (Becoming A Man) and WOW (Working on Womanhood) core values for students enrolled in those programs. Youth Guidance has a series of large-scale events where volunteers are critical participants. Volunteers serve as mentors to our students, share their career journeys, and help students build their job-readiness skills. These events are planned annually to fit into @Work program milestones. Youth Guidance provides workshops and curriculum to support volunteers in having critical conversations with our youth.

Location: Chicago

Volunteer Ages: Adults, Groups

Frequency: One-time

Frequency Details: Contact Corporate Liaison for specific event dates and times.

Contact Info: Staff: Lauren Pais, Corporate Liaison, lpais@youth-guidance.org, 312-994-8117

Other Information: Orientation will be provided to volunteers prior to the event.

People Served/Type of Services: Urgent Services, Homelessness, Domestic Abuse

Types of Help Needed: Events and Projects, Fundraising

Service Opportunity Details: Donation Sorter: Each day WINGS receives new and gently used items through the generosity of local merchants and community members. We sell these items to the public with all proceeds going to support our shelters, counseling, and other services. These stores are a vital part of our organization because they provide the largest and most consistent source of funds for our program. All merchandise is also available to our residents, at no cost, as they rebuild their lives after the devastating effects of domestic violence and homelessness. To minimize the risk of injury, close-toed shoes are required.

Location: WINGS Logistics Center, Elk Grove, IL

Volunteer Ages: Families with teens, Teens, Young adults, Adults, Groups

Frequency: One-time, On-going

Frequency Details: The center is open 9am to 4:30pm Monday – Saturday. Groups come for about 2-4 hours at a time. All volunteering schedules are made in advance with Bruna Srb.

Contact Info: Staff: Bruna Srb

Other Information: Volunteers must be 14 years or older to volunteer individually. Volunteers ages 10 to 13 must be accompanied with a parent or guardian.

People Served/Type of Services: Urgent Services, Healthcare, Homelessness, Food Insecurity, Physical Health

Types of Help Needed: Events and projects, In-kind donations

Service Opportunity Details: Service Saturdays occur once a month and involve groups of volunteers assisting in various preparations and sorting tasks in the agency’s main office.

Location: Chicago-Lakeview

Volunteer Ages: Young adults, Adults, Groups

Frequency: One-time

Frequency Details: First Saturday of every month

Contact Info: Staff: Miranda Dean, 773-506-6022

Other Information:

People Served/Type of Services: Urgent Services, Education/Child and AdolescentDevelopment, Healthcare, Domestic Abuse, Children, Teens, Mental Health

Types of Help Needed: In-kind donations, Events and projects

Service Opportunity Details: In-Kind initiatives currently organized internally by Lawrence Hall have the opportunity to be led by volunteers, either in helping to plan or execute them. They include: Back to School Supply Drive: Ensuring all 600+ of the youth in school (Kindergarten-College) receive a backpack filled with supplies needed to succeed at the start of the school year. Turkey Drive: Ensuring all Lawrence Hall families in critical need receive a Thanksgiving box filled with all food items to prepare a Thanksgiving Dinner. Coat Drive: Ensuring all of our youth have a warm coat during the cold months. Holiday Gift Drive: Ensuring all 700+ of the youth in our programs have a gift to open during the Holiday Season. Foster Care Holiday Party: Volunteers are needed to help provide food, beverages, decorations and cookies for the annual Lawrence Hall Foster Care Holiday Party hosted for our Foster Care families and children each December.

Location: Chicago-Ravenswood

Volunteer Ages: Families with young children, Families with teens, Teens, Young Adults, Adults, Groups

Frequency: One-time, Periodic

Frequency Details: Generally occur September through December.

Contact Info: Staff: Laryssa Sykes; Hailey Nicewanner, Youth and Volunteer Engagement Supervisor, 773-769-3500.

Other Information: