Volunteer San Diego

This Thanksgiving eve me and my close friends dedicated our time, finances and collective/​creative skills to spread the Holiday spirit to less fortunate families. We’ve assembled 20 baskets and drove them to houses. We had a great time and made something special for others. While helping, I’ve thought about what I should be grateful for and how I can make things even better. And all this pure volunteering experience wouldn’t happen without SDV. Several days prior to the Thanksgiving, I received an e-​mail from the organization announcing about opportunities and last year stories. And it brought me an idea which have transformed into the beautiful caring movement.

I joined Volunteer San Diego as soon as I moved out here. In NYC, I volunteered through one of their affiliates. I love the diversity in projects, the flexibility of not committing for more than just one shift, and the people. I’ve tried various flex projects and have enjoyed them all. I’m a big fan of the SD Food Bank project but like to change it up sometimes. They’ve already started posting special projects for the holiday season, including wish lists for various agencies. Check it out!

I have truly fallen in love with this organization. They have made volunteering extremely accessible, flexible, and quick! Which before I had found VSD, were the things that were lacking and that turned me off when deciding to volunteer for a specific organization.
What? There’s a wait time to process my application. Application… really? I just want to help pass out food on Saturday. And what, I gotta do this twice a month… for the next year??! Wow, okay well that’s a long time. Ummm, I was just thinking of doing it this weekend, at least for now. =/​
So for those that don’t have a lot of time or for the commitment phobs out there, well that’s not going to work. The registration, orientation, sign-​up can be done online… within minutes. Yup… that’s how they do!
Another really cool thing is there are so many different causes to choose from. There’s everything from beach cleanup to feeding the homeless; to giving some TLC to sheltered animals and interacting with disabled children. There is just so much more! You’ll be amazed at some of the projects, that you may not even recognize it as volunteering but that it just spells out FUN! You will seriously walk away feeling that you’ve accomplished something selfless but just as much, feeling selfish cause it was such a blast doing it.
Believe me, I always try to find a way to do something the easy way, and this is no exception. Check out the flex project calendar, and you’ll see what I’m talking about!

Since I got rid of cable I’ve had some free time on my hands and what a wonderful way to spend that time on helping others out. Volunteer SD has something for EVERYONE from tutoring children, feeding the homeless, interacting with senior citizens, playing basketball w/​mentally and disabled youth, planting trees, playing with dogs, teaching arts and crafts, gardening, cleaning up the coastline, building a playground, delivering groceries to HIV/​AIDS in-​home patients… the list goes on.
SDV offers a fun and flexible, volunteer schedule for anyone looking to donate a couple hours here and there. There is no commitment and the volunteer schedule allows you to pick and choose when, what and where you’d like to volunteer throughout San Diego.
I’ve met so many amazing, selfless people through SDV and it has made me appreciate all the little things in my life that I’ve taken for granted.
I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone even if it’s just one hour a month.
Everything helps and the people on the receiving end are so appreciative and thankful. SIGN UP NOW –

Giving back — making a difference — doing something for others — helping your community: if you have thought of any of these things and wondered how to go about making a change Volunteer San Diego is the way to go!
I’ve wasted many years doing stuff for me and not knowing how to give back but on a schedule I could REALLY commit to and not flake out. VSD is the perfect answer! You can try so many different projects and you don’t have to sign up every day or every week. just when you can. Sometimes it’s hard choosing because there are a lot of GREAT projects.
There are so many good organizations in San Diego (which is what I’ve learned) doing great things but they need help too!
I LOVE IT !!! Like really love it!

Oh, I absolutely LOVE Volunteer San Diego. Their calendar of one-​time projects makes it easy for me to set-​up my volunteering around my schedule.
PLUS, since you can check out all the different non-​profit events that need help you can do stuff you like… arts and crafts with kids, gardening, food bank sorting, scrapbooking, painting rec centers or help at events like races and beer festivals (sweet!)
TIP: Under the ‘Find a Project” section, go to the Project Calendar, for me it’s the easiest way to check stuff out. ALSO, you can now do orientation online, so there’s nothing stopping you from your next project!

I’m going to do my best not to sound like a commercial here. I’ve done volunteer work through this organization (which is a local 501©3 nonprofit) since about 2003. What they do is they match up volunteers to other nonprofit agencies that need a hand. Through them I have served meals, planted trees, bagged meals for shut-​in AIDS patients, played basketball with at-​risk kids, and played with shelter animals. They also play a HUGE role in organizing volunteer efforts, such as that which we’ve recently seen in San Diego following the wildfires.
It’s completely win-​win. Volunteers find opportunities that interest them in order to make a difference in the community. Nonprofits get a helping hand when needed. And when disaster strikes, the community can appeal to a group like this one for needed help, and the infrastructure to recruit people is in place.
If you think you have a few hours a month to spare, and you’re not sure where to get involved, this is a tremendous place to start.
(One more thing I should emphasize. The aspect I like best is that volunteers don’t need to be bound to a particular schedule. If you can spare the time, you can find opportunities. If you don’t, you don’t. It allows even busy people to be selfless sometimes.)