VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Give an hour. Give a Saturday. Give your best. We all have special talents. Things we can do to help. And when we reach out a hand to one, we influence the condition of all. Whether it’s reading to children, or leading financial literacy classes for hard-working families, or delivering meals to homebound seniors, there are hundreds of volunteer options available every day.
Give the gift of you. Volunteer.

You may think volunteering means picking up a paintbrush, planting trees, or working in a soup kitchen.

But many nonprofits need professional services like writing a business plan, doing their books,

developing a web site, board governance or software training. United Way of South Central Illinois

offers you a variety of ways to get involved and make an impact.

IMMEDIATE VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Serve on a United Way Committee
Help us STUFF THE BUS!
Be a volunteer for the United Way Day of Action - June 21, 2009
Help with the Century 21 After School Program
Be a Mentor
Be a Foster Grandparent
Be a child advocate
Serve meals to kids in the summer feeding program
Be a Red Cross Volunteer
Give Blood
Help do income taxes for the elderly
Register to Vote

Help in a food pantry

See our Agency Events page and help a United Way agency on a special event
Read to the elderly in a nursing home
Read to children
Deliver meals to home-bound seniors
Be a little league coach or assistant
Be a hospital volunteer
Hold a food drive

WANT SOMETHING A LITTLE MORE CHALLENGING?

The United Way has many potential volunteer opportunities and community needs that are not being

met but for which there are some wonderful programs that could be implemented.

For a real challenge how about taking on a current unmet need and become a CHAMPION FOR A CAUSE?

Here are some really cool opportunities just waiting for someone to take them on!

The Dolly Parton Imagination Library - In 1996, Dolly Parton launched an exciting new effort to benefit the children of her home county in east Tennessee. Dolly wanted to foster a love of reading among her county’s preschool children and their families. She wanted children to be excited about books and to feel the magic that books can create. Moreover, she could insure that every child would have books, regardless of their family’s income.

So she decided to mail a brand new, age appropriate book each month to every child under 5 in Sevier County. With the arrival of every child’s first book, the classic The Little Engine That Could ™, every child could now experience the joy of finding their very own book in their mail box. These moments continue each month until the child turns 5—and in their very last month in the program they receive Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come.

This program is now in many communities throughout the world, providing an age appropriate book to every child age birth to five every month that wants one. Wouldn't it be great if our community had Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in it? Click here for more information

A Homeless Shelter - Currently Jefferson County has only 1 small homeless shelter through the Hope in Christ Ministries... and although they work tireless to serve this need it is severly limited in its capacity to met the homeless needs. Homelessness just is not being adequately addressed in Jefferson or Marion county Illinois. Because we are at an interstate crossroads of I57 and I64 we see a lot of transients in our community but even worse than that we have many local families that

just are not able to have a home of their own. District 80 schools currently has over 125 children that are homeless, living from family member to friend. If you would like to join conversations we have been having on how to address this problem please call the United Way office.

GET DIRTY! - Volunteerism promotes positive citizenship among youth by encouraging them to be more engaged in their own communities. Youth who volunteer feel more connected to their community, are more likely to show concern, and to stay in or return to their communities. Thus, youth volunteerism contributes substantially to community vitality. We also believe that kids that volunteer become adults that volunteer.

Help the United Way develop a Youth Volunteer Program called DIRT(Destroy Improve Repair Team). Often the United Way gets calls from other organizations or kids looking for (or sometimes having been required) to volunteer. Obviously we need structured, adult supervised activities to provide them. DIRT's focus would be to once a month take on dirty, volunteer jobs that no one else will do. It is guerrilla style engagement, very authentic and just very much about the experience. We think a group of 20 or 30 somethings mixed with a group of teen somethings would make for great DIRT. If you want to be a founding Dirtclod call us today!

WOMENS LEADERSHIP COUNCIL- is a collaboration of women committed to significantly improving
the quality of life in our communities by focused philanthropic giving, advocacy and volunteering. We have work to do! Women are relationship builders and our greatest asset is bringing folks together for a common purpose and getting results! Forming a Women's Leadership Council would be for to recognize and honor women who make a difference. Now it's time to mobilize and focus on the critical issues that motivate and affect our community. Women are amazing. We are daughters, wives, mothers, philanthropists and business owners. We also control 82 percent of this nation's purchasing power. In fact, America's 10 million women-owned businesses employ 27.5 million people and contribute $3.6 trillion to the economy.

Yet, 65 percent of the poor in the United States are adult women and, among the elderly, that figure soars to 75 percent. Given this dichotomy, the job of a Women's Leadership Council is to embarke on a journey to work together with our gifts and talents to achieve measurable outcomes toward the empowerment of all women in our community. Are willing to be a leader among women?

United Way Volunteer Committees

In 2008 we developed a long and short term strategic plan to reach some key goals for our organization

and to develop plans to face the challenges in our community. Below are a list of volunteer committees

we are forming to work on on the goals approved by our Board of Directors. If you would like to volunteer

for one of these committees just contact the United Way today!

See our Strategic Plan for details on each committee.

Community Engagement Committee
Community Impact Committee
Resource Development Committee
Relationship Building Committee
Staff and Volunteer Leadership Committee

Other community opportunities

Be a mentor - Big Brothers Big Sisters
Being a "Big Brother" or "Big Sister" is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable things you will ever do.
It's simple, too. You and your "Little" can share the kinds of activities you already like to do, such as:
- Shooting hoops
- Playing a board game
- Going on a hike
- Enjoying a pizza
- To learn more about being a Big Brother or a Big Sister CLICK HERE

The Foster Grandparents Program helps:

Abused and neglected children
Mentors troubled teenagers and young mothers
Provides different generations opportunities to grow together
Improves the lives of children and enriches the volunteers lives

The Foster Grandparents volunteer in schools and headstart programs during the school year in Jefferson and Wayne county.

At the heart of the program is the one-on-one daily attention that Foster Grandparents provide. This special care helps