Do you volunteer, and if so, tell us about it
 

I know a lot of you make quilts for various charities, but other than that, do you volunteer anywhere?

I volunteer two days a week at a very busy food shelf. We sometimes serve 80 families a day!! I just love it - it is the greatest "job" ever - I get to give people so much and it doesn't cost me anything, lol!! Families or individuals can come in once a month and get (approx.) a week's worth of food.

I meet so many wonderful people - I don't think I have ever helped anyone who didn't thank me at the end, and quite often I get a hug as well! I hear such sad stories and yet I also see so much love - an elderly woman taking care of her husband who is in a wheelchair, siblings who are helping their less fortunate brother or sister, an older person who has worked their whole life, but in retirement, the spouse's medical bills are eating up all the extra funds.

Sometimes I feel like I am in the middle of a revolving door with food coming in on one side (1500 pounds of produce a day is normal, along with breads, dessert, meats, etc. ) and going out on the other!! It all has to be sorted, processed, packaged, and stored.

We have a great group of volunteers and thank goodness there are also social workers at this organization to help people with other problems.

I started after my husband passed and it has really filled a need for me to send my love out into the world.

I volunteer at our community theater. Acting, sewing costumes, building sets and stage managing. I love all aspects of the theater life.

I volunteer for the German Shepherd Rescue Scotland, had our annual fun day yesterday, I do home checks for would be adopters and assess dogs coming into rescue.

I use to work for an organization that would rescue Westies. I rescue 3 but when I became disable and couldn't drive anymore, I had to drop out. That is why I enjoy making charity quilts since it is something I can do at home.

i drive low income seniors to medical appointments in neighboring counties, register attendees to various senior center events, knit and crochet blocks to make afghans for the cancer center, do shopping for shut ins.

I volunteer at the elementary school where my daughter works. I photo copy, grade papers and anything else they ask me to do.

I am on the Board of Directors for LIFE Senior Services in Tulsa. The have a lot of support programs for senior citizens. 2 programs I volunteer in are the Medicare Part D program which helps seniors pick the best Part D prescription Drug plan and the other is helping prepare income tax returns for seniors in the spring.

I don't really volunteer but I do bake for my daughter and her family. As a treat I also will go over and clean her house every once in a while. She has 4 kids, 3 of them are in sports, she works full time and her husband teaches, coaches and also teaches night classes at a college. They are so busy! When I was a working Mom I always wished I could come home to a clean house!

I don't volunteer but took another box of socks to a shelter after darning them. There were 50 pair. One neighbor was getting ready to throw a bunch of her husband's away. They were very welcomed.

I volunteer for The Arc, where I retired from. I help with events. I also make baby quilts and jelly for their annual fundraising luncheon.

Our local children's hospital has a sewing room. I volunteer there once a week, for about 5 hours. We sew items used on the hospital units - shorts for physical therapy, elbow restraints, tube covers, bibs, etc. I never know what I will be working on.

The local Salvation Army has a toy auxiliary. As part of that I sew clothes for 18" dolls. They give away close to 700 18" dolls each year.

I have also volunteered at Matthew 25 ministries. I like this one because you just show up and they give you a task. It's a great way to catch up with friends while doing something useful. The oddest task I have had there was sorting miscut feminine hygiene products, trying to selvage any that could still be used.

I teach sewing and quilting to children and adults at several community centers.

I'm foster mommy for a fiv cat, I support two self help groups, and I'm the coordinator for the applique group that is a subgroup of our quilt club. But mostly I try and make sure I leave any place I am a little better than i found it. picking up litter on the way into a store, thanking someone for small acts of kindness, complimenting someone who has went out of their way when doing something. Helping someone with their groceries. It doesn't really matter what as long as it needs doing and I do it.

I have coached junior soft ball and curling(an ice sport for people who are wondering). I have been a library volunteer and a 4-h leader. Loved every minute of it.

I volunteer with my local Project Linus and we provide blankets for children in any type of crisis. We also supply blankets to Ft. Bragg to be given to children of soldiers who are killed or injured. I have made some blankets, but mostly make items to be sold at craft fairs to raise money to purchase materials to make the blankets. I also volunteer in the administrative offices of a local Hospice.

I volunteer with our local all-volunteer fire company through their Ladies Auxiliary. We help out at major fires providing food; water; etc. as well as other events for the fire company. We'll also supply personal care items and whatever else we can scrounge up at the time to fire victims.

I help make pillowcases for kids with cancer, I am knitting preemie caps for a local hospital and I volunteer for a local theater group working on costumes and I have been volunteering at a local high school for their costumes but they just started paying me last year.

oh, i forgot... i make preemie hats, too. one summer, i made about 300
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What a wonderful approach to life! I am not currently volunteering anywhere, but I have done so at the local pregnancy center, food bank, Meals on Wheels, teen center, humane society, and elementary school. All different, all interesting.

There is an organization in my town that coordinates rides for non-drivers in my zip code. I call it "Driving Miss Daisy." :) I've met some delightful people that I now consider friends. I had to stop working last October because of a disability, but I can still drive. Driving Miss Daisy helps to make me feel useful after 49 years of working.

I volunteer at a quilting group to make quilts of all sizes for those that can use them. There are usually 8 to 10 of us that do the cutting, sewing and putting bindings on. Then, who ever knows who needs them, especially a boys home. We all are just happy that everyone that gets one enjoys them. Some crochet but they are thankfully used also. Keeps me up on my toes for sure so I have no time to get old, old, old. We all in this group just enjoy doing for others.

I belong to our church group called the 4 S Outreach Ministries. 4 S= Soup,sandwiches,socks and salvation, a group that helps our homeless here.Right now,I'm taking used but usable towels and cutting them into washrags.we then put them in a plastic zip lock bag with a small bar of soap(hotel samples we get from a company for 26 cents a piece.) and pass them out @ our food giveaway.we have a very large amount of homeless here,and the city even lets churches use a lot to set up food tables to feed them,so many churches are participating in it ,(nightly) that we only do it twice a month.

In the past, I have been a red-cross volunteer. I trained for emergency management and also, I had to be on call to help families who had been burned out of their homes. For three years, I drove someone to and from work everyday. For the last 3 1/2 years, I have babysat for my grandson while my daughter worked and went to school. After next week, I will be free, because he starts pre-school.

volunteering
 

I take a dog to visit senior citizen centers. I used to volunteer on a crisis intervention call line . Diane C.

I use to volunteer for our local food bank but got very discouraged and quit. I have tried many different volunteer choices and discovered doing for the public is not that great in many areas. So my friend and I started a free community quilt class once a month. It's the eleventh year this year. We host a quilt every fall so the class can show their work. It's free to the public and all votes are viewer's choice.

I served on the board for our local Assault and Abuse center until the state (IL) cut the funds so much we had to close. I knit stocking hats for school age children and make quilts, both of these go to the local health department for distribution. I occasionally crochet an afghan for the same department. I have worked as an election volunteer for every election (primary, city and federal) for the past 14 yrs.

To me, this qualifies as volunteering, and I just want to say what a GREAT mom you are for helping out. I know your daughter and her family really appreciate it. I do the same my for DIL and son as they have a very busy life also ... I just do it when I want to and not on any regular basis. I do it mostly as a surprise cleaning fairy and have let my GDs who are eight and seven know that the fairy will only clean their bedroom if it is cleaned up of toys put away. As they never know when I am coming, it has encouraged them to pick their toys up and put away.

My DIL works at a nursing home, so I volunteer there, Due to health issues , I can not commit to anything scheduled. So I phone the day I am having a good day and they have no problem getting a few ladies for me to go in and paint their fingernails for them and have a chit chat while painting . To the ladies it is a highlight of there day. I also sit and knit or crochet for half an hour or so with some other ladies. This works well for me and a win, win for all involved.

I volunteer at the local humane society as a kitten foster parent and at different events.....It's so rewarding......

I have been a Hospice volunteer for the last six years. I have met such wonderful people, both the patients and families. When faced with death most people need to talk but don't want to burden their families. I am there to give families some respite. I have written letters for patients, held their hands, taken them out in wheelchairs and just listened while they talked about their lives. I am truly blessed because they give so much more to me than I could ever give to them.

wow so many things people do for others!!
I visit shut ins and people who just need someone to listen. I belong to a local quilt club and we make red/white/blue quilts for veterans that we give away to vets every year. I belong to a local garden club and furnish plants for the towns flower beds. I help my daughter prepare 'field food' for her husband, father in law and the help they need to hire in spring and fall. I serve various places in my church I am financial secretary, serve on the church council many years, as president of our womens group really another gal and I share this but she is gone much of the year. we tie quilt tops that members and pieced together and our small congregation sends 70 to 80 quilts every year to Lutheran World Relief. to raise money for mission work we have a soup supper in October, have 'Tour of Tables' every spring. which is we decorate 12 tables (members come up with unique ideas for these) the 'tour is about 1/2 hour after which we serve a full meal.
I could go on but you get the picture. at age 76 I no longer have a full time job but do have 4 house cleaning jobs to give me a little spending money

Habitat for Humanity...you do not have to serve on their Board to help! You can volunteer to provide a lunch for the house build team...any time it fits into your schedule. Quilters would be a great source for this ministry. Basic, decent housing is a blessing to those who otherwise cannot affort it. A hand UP! NOT a handout!

Sandy

Assistance League. I had never heard of it until I visited their thrift shop. When I saw their operation, I joined straightaway. The entire shop runs on volunteers, manager down. Very nice shop and hardworking ladies. We raised $137k this year for 27 scholarships to both graduating teens and women retooling to reenter the work force. Smallest amount is $3k up to $10k. That's to start. We also provided NEW school clothing to 1600 children in our area this year alone through our Operation School Bell. We visit rest homes to socialize with residents, provide cake decorating classes and the like to women's shelters; find a need, we'll try to meet it. It's a "leave all pettiness at the door/we have work to do" operation. Never saw a group of women, work so hard, in harmony and get this much done in all my life. Proud to be a member. It's a national organization. Check it out!

shortcake2012, I trained to be a volunteer for hospice for the reasons that you speak of. The training took 10 weeks. I made it to week 7. During the seventh week, we were told that we needed to give hospice receipts for our gas expenses, for any flowers or cards that we might give to the families, etc. They wanted a copy of my nursing license too. I'm not sure why. The reason they wanted our receipts were for tax write off purposes. Because they are a for profit organization. My first thought was, what do my receipts have to do with you? I made the decision not to move forward with the training for that reason. Apparently there had been another volunteer the previous year who felt conflicted for the same reasons I did. The idea of being there for families at such a difficult time really did appeal to me. Having been on the other side of this, I know that what you are doing makes a difference.

I am in awe of all the wonderful things my fellow quilters do for others, kids, communities, those in need or not well. Thanks to all of you for all you do! I have found my niche working at the Thrift Shop my local hospital has. We sort, we price, we clean, we sell, whatever needs doing. My fellow volunteers are dedicated, fun and wonderful to be around. It gives me so much more than I expected. I am very shy and having a shared task is a wonderful way for me to meet new people, much like quilting does.

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*** This is a wonderful bunch of ladies/gentlemen.
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*** You are a caring, concerned, giving group.
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*** I don't volunteer yet, but plan to.
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*** THANKS TO ALL OF YOU.
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I've volunteered many times. These are just a few:

1) Worked with the Boy Scouts of America - from Den Leader/Cubmaster through Council and Regional positions (30 years)
2) Worked at a local food pantry - stopped when I moved from that area
3) Worked at my local library bar coding the entire 10,000 plus items getting library ready for online checkout
4) Make quilts for charity (through my guild)
5) Various "jobs" within quilt guilds

I haven't been volunteering much lately, but need to get back into it.

I am amazed at the varied "jobs" you all have done! Keep up the great work and THANK YOU to all who give of themselves to others! :)

I deliver meals on wheels to homebound seniors one day a week, am a tour guide at a local historic site and an election day worker, and I do our church bulletin every week.

Your little hats are so, so , sweet and any little one will be so warm and sweet also wearing something made with so much love in it. Great job...wow 300... I like them all, but the pumpkins are my favorite. Thanks for sharing.

I volunteer my time Thursday's mornings during the school years at an elementary school. My time is split between a kindergarten and first grade class. I tell the teachers that I am there to be a blessing to them and will help with whatever is needed doing. Field trip help, collating papers, art work, decorating room, etc. I absolutely love it! I also volunteer at a local church ( not the one I attend) in making comfort charity quilts.