Fun Volunteer Opportunities

You might already know that volunteering is a good thing to do – Okay, everyone knows that, right? So, let me tell you something you might not know. Volunteering can actually be fun. Yes, it’s true. There are some pretty fun activities out there that are just waiting for you. It’s almost criminal. You’ll get to use it on resume or on your applications for scholarships and grants, you’ll get all the warm and fuzzy feelings that come along with helping others – and you’ll have fun doing it? Amazing.

So, here are just a few ideas for things you might be able to do and have a little fun at the same time:

1. Charity event planning – If that’s your sort of thing, you should be able to find a ton of opportunities out there. Some might be local, but you’d be surprised at how much you can do from a distance.

2. Restoring hiking trails – Ever wonder how those hiking trails always stay in good working order? It never looks like a lot of work has been done, but trust me, it has. Volunteer with a hiking association and you can get some great exercise, meet like-minded people and give back to the hiking community.

3. Big brother or sister – You mean you can get volunteer credit for playtime? Yes, indeed. If you signup to volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, you can change the life of a child while playing and having fun. You can do whatever you and your little sibling like: basketball, shopping, tennis, hiking.

4. Foster a pet – Pets end up in shelters all the time because good owners find themselves in bad situations. It’s very sad, but it happens. If you volunteer to foster, you could end up providing a loving home for one of those pets, so it never has to see the inside of a shelter cage.

Volunteering Scholarships

In previous posts, we’ve talked about why you might want to start volunteering in your college years, but today, I wanted to talk a little bit about volunteering a little earlier. There are actually financial rewards to volunteering while you’re still in high school. Actually, one of my friends is a perfect example; she volunteered for Meals on Wheels throughout high school (yep, all four years) and she ended up getting two different merit scholarships for college. She went on to work in various charities after school and now she’s on the board for a major non-profit organization.

Now, I’m not saying that a scholarship should be your only inspiration for volunteering, but even if it is, it’s better than not volunteering at all. If you’re thinking about volunteering for the potential scholarship perk, check out DoSomething.org. This is a website that organizes information from various sources to deliver a list of available college scholarships for high school students. Here you might find a scholarship from a realtor or an organization, like Tackle Hunger, that is really interested in helping budding philanthropists get the education they deserve.

In order to be awarded a scholarship, you can’t expect to give a half-hearted effort. You have to imagine that you’re competing against every young philanthropist in the country for the same role. So, keep that in mind when you decide how much time to spend at your charity of choice. Also, it would be risky to think that you could volunteer only in your senior year and be awarded money for college. For one, that’s very last minute; but secondly, it doesn’t show the long-term commitment that these organizations are looking for in their awardees. In order to be competitive, you should start volunteering in your freshman year and continue throughout your time in high school.

There are many scholarships available, so your chances are good – but there’s still a chance you won’t get a scholarship out of your efforts. Just make sure you enjoy the volunteer work enough to feel personally fulfilled before you commit to doing it.