I want to volunteer my time....any idea where to look

for oportunities?

What are you interested in?

Subject: Volunteer

kids, animals (moreso cats), reading, elderly, gardening, helping out those in need.

NY Cares. You have to go and register and take a little class, but then they send you a monthly calendar of things to choose from. I like them because if you have a changing schedule, you don't have to commit long term. They do all kinds of things - bingo with the elderly, animal care, park clean ups, teaching computer skills, etc.

I second NY Cares as a great place to start. You could do just about anything any time of the day or week. You can get set up on a regular gig, or do one-off projects where you are only committed for anywhere from a few hours, to a full day. They are all over the city too.

www.nycares.org

I had a bad experience with NYCares last summer. Not worth getting into on a public forum but there are tons of groups that can use your time and skills.
Say what you want about Bloomberg but he has put some resources behind this new website and his Mayor's Volunteer Center.

www.nycservice.org

If you have communications skills such as web design, writing/editing, project management, marketing management, etc., check out the Taproot Foundation.

www.taprootfoundation.org

There was a list of Green Sector Volunteer initiatives at http://greenbrooklyn.com/index.php a couple weeks ago. Things for Transportation Alternatives, Brooklyn Greenway, and others. I can forward you some of the response email I received if you'd like.

Having found way too much free time lately (read: laid off), this is a good thread for those of us looking for Volunteer resources. Keep it going, if there are anymore.

1st_Streeter wrote: If you have communications skills such as web design, writing/editing, project management, marketing management, etc., check out the Taproot Foundation.

www.taprootfoundation.org

I'm a volunteer with Taproot (I'm working on a project now). They are great people doing great things, but it requires a long term commitment (ie several hours a week for months), so its something to keep in mind...

Anybody try One Brick ("commitment free volunteering")?

Daveon8th wrote: I had a bad experience with NYCares last summer. Not worth getting into on a public forum but there are tons of groups that can use your time and skills.
Say what you want about Bloomberg but he has put some resources behind this new website and his Mayor's Volunteer Center.

www.nycservice.org

NYCares runs hundreds of programs a month, so I am frankly not surprised that problems come up now and then. It should not take away from the overall very good job they do organizing programs and making them easily accessible to the casual, or hard core, volunteer. That being said, you make a very good point about there being a lot of opportunities to volunteer in this city. Check them all out and see what works best for you.

I love NY Cares also. I have had great experiences volunteering with them.
And made some nice new friends.

Alas, Taproot, not so much. The project was super time-consuming and I began to feel like "OMG, what have I gotten myself into?" After four months, my team project was still going on and all I wanted was to escape. I would never do it again. Plus the endless emails and conference calls, never mind the actual meetings, were enough to drive me insane. (But Taproot does good pro bono work, I will say that!) Maybe it was just me being easily irritated.

The Superhero store on 5th Avenue is a great volunteer opportunity if you want to work with kids.

you can sign up through habitat for humanity's website and they'll email you when they need volunteers - no long term commitment.

Jamzer wrote: [quote=Daveon8th]I had a bad experience with NYCares last summer. Not worth getting into on a public forum but there are tons of groups that can use your time and skills.
Say what you want about Bloomberg but he has put some resources behind this new website and his Mayor's Volunteer Center.

www.nycservice.org

NYCares runs hundreds of programs a month, so I am frankly not surprised that problems come up now and then. It should not take away from the overall very good job they do organizing programs and making them easily accessible to the casual, or hard core, volunteer. That being said, you make a very good point about there being a lot of opportunities to volunteer in this city. Check them all out and see what works best for you.

My problem with NYCares is that they made my volunteer group stop working on a mural because the allotted time for the project was over. A group of about 5 of us wanted to stay and the "supervisor" rushed us out saying that they would be back and finish the mural. 6 months later the mural was just as we left it that day and NYCares moved onto to the next school/project/photo op. Several of my friends are teachers in Bed-Stuy and they noticed similar incomplete projects in their schools that NYCares started and walked away from. Sometimes the biggest isn't always the best.

Junior League
http://www.brooklynjuniorleague.org/brooklyn/index.jsp

BB, are you in the Junior League?

Does anyone know how much dues are? I need something like that to force me to socialize with other gals. I'm too shy to get my ass out to more of this Brooklynian stuff but if I'm paying dues and there's volunteer work, I would *have* to go

Hmmm Junior League sounds interesting. How does it work?