Give Time by the fARM Have you thought about giving your time? You should. Volunteering opportunities abound on national and local levels. A day a week, a day a month, or a day every six months is a minor sacrifice for you, but it can mean so much to someone else. Long-Term Commitments As a member of the Peace Corps ("the toughest job you'll ever love"), you travel abroad to bring clean water to communities, teach children, help start new small businesses, and stop the spread of AIDs. Similarly, with Americorps, known as the domestic Peace Corps, you teach children to read, make neighborhoods safer, build affordable homes, and respond to natural disasters. Through more than 1,000 projects like these, you can help while learning about new cultures, people, and environments. Short-Term Commitments With Habitat for Humanity and a number of other organizations, such as Global Volunteers and Global Ministries, you can participate in a two- or three-week trip overseas to help build communities in a number of ways. Find the Right One for You Practically every city has a local agency that arranges volunteer opportunities within the community. Find your local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, a local library at which to tutor, or a local hospital, Planned Parenthood health center, or homeless shelter at which to volunteer. Find something you believe in and give your time to that cause. When you find the one for you, and participate by giving your time, you'll find the experience rewarding. Here are some places to start: CityCares CityCares is an innovative alliance of volunteer organizations that plan and manage meaningful volunteer opportunities in partnership with 3,600 non-profit organizations and schools across the country. Each year, CityCares affiliates plan and manage more than 18,000 service projects involving more than 117,000 volunteers and addressing a broad spectrum of social needs. These projects range from 800 people renovating a community center in Atlanta, to 12 volunteers assisting adults in Los Angeles shelters, to weekly teams taking children to the New York Public Library. Volunteer Match VolunteerMatch is the nonprofit, online service that helps interested volunteers get involved with community service organizations throughout the United States. Volunteers enter their ZIP code on the VolunteerMatch web site to quickly find local volunteer opportunities matching individual interests and schedules. Idealist A project of Action Without Borders. At this site you will find: Over 26,000 nonprofit and community organizations in 153 countries, which you can search or browse by name, location or mission. If your organization is not yet listed here, you can add it now (it's free). Thousands of volunteer opportunities in your community and around the world, and a list of organizations that can help you volunteer abroad. The best Nonprofit Career Center on the Web, with hundreds of job and internship listings. SERVEnet SERVEnet.org is the premier website on service and volunteering. Through SERVEnet, users can enter their zip code, city, state, skills, interests, and availability and be matched with organizations needing help. SERVEnet is also a place to search for calendar events, job openings, service news, recommended books, and best practices. Back to Table of Contents Email this to a friend Copyright©2002 by the fARM. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For submission and general info contact thefarm@keepgoing.org