Boston Nesties
camedowncrushing
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Volunteering
Does anyone do any volunteer work with homeless kids? I have been scouring the internet looking for an opportunity to volunteer at a shelter in the Lowell area, and I can't find anything specific to children.
Re: Volunteering
Here you go!
Horizons for Homeless Children
60 Island Street
Lawrence, MA 01840-1835
(978) 557-2182
The Lowell Wish Project
Also check out Indeed.org for opportunities. Most listings will be FT jobs, but there should be a section there for volunteering.
GL!!
Thanks Punky.
The Wish Project is a group that just delivers goods to organizations....I want to "work" directly with kids. I saw an amazing documentary recently that was so inspiring...it was about a program out in the LA area that worked with homeless kids. The program provided almost a preschool type structured environment with plenty of learning toys and fun. I know there are homeless shelters in Lowell, but for some reason I can't find information about volunteering at them. I have been on idealist.org looking. I will check out Indeed.org for sure. I did see Horizons for Homeless on there, but I was sort of hoping I could find something in Lowell which is a lot closer. Thanks so much!
Are you only interested in working with homeless children?
If not, I do know of some after school programs that work with at-risk children, primarily in Dorchester or Roxbury.
I've worked with an organization that does outreach to homeless families/persons living in landfills, although they're an international organization based out of Jamaica, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic
Hey Buckeye. I started out looking for homeless shelters, but would totally work with "at risk" kids. I can't make the trip all the way into the city though. I am looking for something close to home...I know there are several homeless shelters in Lowell which is why I was looking there. I just found a group called "Community Team Work Inc" which looks like it works with the Head Start program. Their website keeps giving me error messages, but I was able to find an email address for the director of volunteering. Hopefully she will be able to help me find something.
So did you volunteer internationally?
I have. Thanks Rock. I have been on craigslist as well. Idealist.org has the most by far, but still not a ton in this area. Ehhh...I am hoping that if the place I emailed doesn't have something fitting then they will at least be able to point me in the right direction.
I used to run a program in Central Florida for at-risk teens (unfortunately not available here). I love working with this population.
I would check out Big Brothers/Big Sisters. They offer a great program for "at-risk" teens, but it does require a regular time commitment.
I'm not sure about how the City Year program works in terms of volunteering, but it would be worth looking into.
Also look into:
Horizons for Homeless Children (*** right up your alley!)
Habitat for Humanity
Massachusetts Coalition for the Homelesss
Peace Games (SUCH a great program!!)
Project Bread
Project Hip Hop
The Posse Foundation Inc. (AGAIN, SO GREAT!)
The Food Project
I would also investigate women's shelters in the area since that generally offers the opportunity to also work with kids/teens since many homeless women are also mothers. They're harder to find because they're more sensitive to protecting the people who use their services, but I volunteered with a women's shelter in DC and it was incredibly rewarding.
If you need links for any of these, or advice, please feel free to PM (but page me first since I don't often check.) I have worked extensively with this population, so if you need advice or additional information, I'm pleased to help!
Thanks so much! I was able to find a list of shelters but there isn't any information about volunteering there. Thanks for your help!
Wow, ThisKindofLove gave you some great options, hopefully you're able to find something from that list. Unfortunately, my recs would have been too far, mostly in the Roxbury or Dorchester areas.
I do volunteer internationally, just short-term for now though (1-3 weeks at a time), primarily Central America and the Caribbean, but I'm hoping to plan something a little more substantial (4-6 weeks) next summer. DH and I always talk about doing a long-term commitment 1+ years, but who knows?
What was the documentary that you saw that inspired you to volunteer?
Wow Buckeye that sounds awesome. I just got an email back from the group I contacted in Lowell so I am hoping that will work out.
The documentary was called "Motel Kids" or "Motel Families" something like that...it was about kids growing up in motels and on the streets in Anaheim...ironically right outside of Disney Land. There is a program similar to Head Start that was helping these kids.
I actually volunteered at a ton of organizations when I was in college. Then while I was working as an account executive I didn't have the time, but I would host fundraisers for a local charity (ROCA in Chelsea.) When I quit my job I looked for a volunteer position working with kids with autism, and had no luck if you can believe it. I emailed the two schools right in my area, and the camp/respite center literally on my street. I called. Nothing. So strange. This summer I am doing some volunteer work at a public school ILP program, but it took a lot of work to get that to happen.