NWR: Volunteering

Butterstick

Hi.  I'm pretty new to the area (moved here in October), and I'm trying to find some ways to meet people and get involved.  I am a remote telecommuter for my job in DC, so I can't really meet people through work.

Does anyone have any good volunteer organizations or anything they recommend?  I was toying with the idea of joining Junior League, but it doesn't start till the fall.  And while I love animals and send money all the time and adopted pets form shelters, I don't think I can volunteer at a shelter or anything.  I think I would find it too sad.

Thanks for any ideas!!

smw42

I joined the book club at my local library when we first moved to the town. It was a lot of little old ladies but I had a blast. So I'd say the library is one avenue where you could volunteer.

You could meet people by coming to our knottie get together that I'm organizing

kwilkinson14

When I volunteered for a youth mentoring program, they got setup on idealist.org. It is a place to learn about volunteer opportunities in your neighborhood. You can search for those things that are close by where you live in nj, area of interest, etc. HTH!

uppereastgirl

Have you looked at volunteermatch.org?

Since you love animals, have you thought about fostering any?  Or I used to volunteer at a no-kill animal shelter working on socialization and it was very rewarding.  (This is from someone who couldn't get through Finding Nemo because it was too sad... I wasn't exposed to anything sad at the shelter.)  There are also programs where you take shelter animals to nursing homes to visit the residents, or you could volunteer to help out at adoption events.  I totally understand where you're coming from, but there are lots of non-sad ways to help animals.

My sister is very active in her local junior league and finds it very rewarding.

TuffysMommie

Are you interested in joining any church? Check out some of the churches in your area that are your religion/are a religion you might like. Some churches have active groups that hold soup kitchen, organize drives, etc.

Does your college have an alumni organization chapter in this area?

Reilly626

I joined Literacy Volunteers, you help non-english speaking people learn english, or adults who never learned to read.  I find it rewarding, they train you then you meet with your people at the library at times good for you.