Let us help you find a volunteer project!

CASA EL BUEN SAMARITANO

What Is It?

A free, non-profit health clinic that “shares the love of Jesus Christ while providing whole-person — body, soul, spirit — healthcare to the low-income and uninsured population in our community.”

Help Needed:

Projects could include computer work, child care, patient education materials, website updates, organization, and building maintenance. Please contact the clinic for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

16 to volunteer independently; 14-15 year olds are considered for specific tasks on a case-by-case basis.

THE CENTER FOR HEARING AND SPEECH - VIA COLORI

What Is It?

The most comprehensive resource for pediatric hearing loss in Texas, offering health services and “enabling children with hearing loss to reach their full potential by teaching them listening, speaking, and literacy skills.”

Help Needed:

Help with Via Colori, the annual street painting festival that supports the Center. Via Colori usually takes place on a November weekend.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

16

THE CENTER FOR PURSUIT

What Is It?

A nonprofit organization that provides “residential, vocational, and day services that promote individual choice, personal growth, and independence for persons with developmental disabilities.”

Help Needed:

Assist with campus beautification projects, engage with clients, collect needed items, and/or package gingersnaps and other baked goods for sale. Please contact the Center for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

15 to volunteer independently. Any volunteer younger than 15 years old must be accompanied by a parent/guardian/teacher.

CHALLENGER BASEBALL – WEST UNIVERSITY LITTLE LEAGUE

What Is It?

A baseball program for boys and girls with physical and mental challenges. The most fundamental goal of the Challenger Division is to give everyone a chance to play baseball and have a rewarding experience, regardless of limitations.

Help Needed:

Buddies help their challenged partners by enabling them to play baseball. This might include pushing wheelchair-bound children around the bases or helping the players bat or field the ball. Please visit the Challenger website for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

Volunteers must be in 6th-12th grades.

CHALLENGER FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, & CHEER

What Is It?

An adaptive program for those with a variety of medical, developmental, and intellectual challenges, where all can participate in sports, aided by Buddies, in an inclusive, safe, and protected environment.

Help Needed:

Buddies help their challenged partners, enabling them to participate in football, basketball, or cheer. Other volunteers may help with check-in or with other tasks. Please visit the Challenger website for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

Volunteers must be in high school.

THE CHILDREN'S ASSESSMENT CENTER

What Is It?

A nonprofit that provides a professional, compassionate, and coordinated approach to the treatment of sexually abused children ages 0-17 and their families and to serve as an advocate for all children in our community.

Help Needed:

Collect needed items such as backpacks and school supplies, toiletry bags, Halloween costumes, new books, birthday gifts for therapy clients, therapy graduation gifts, or gifts for the children’s holiday party in December. Volunteers may also help at special weekend events. Please contact the CAC for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

Volunteers of all ages are invited to help by collecting needed items.

CHILDREN’S MUSEUM HOUSTON

What Is It?

A museum that delivers innovative learning opportunities for children birth through 12 years of age and serves more than 1 million children and families annually.

Help Needed:

Discovery Squad volunteers help with exhibits and programs throughout the Museum. Commitment is a minimum of 75 hours per school year or per summer. Please contact the museum for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

Students aged 14 -17 may participate.

CHINESE COMMUNITY CENTER YOUTH SUMMER CAMP

What Is It?

A multi-ethnic, comprehensive social service agency, working “to bridge East and West by enriching families with educational, cultural, and social service programs.”

Help Needed:

Help with week-long summer day camps; must commit to at least 80 hours of service.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

14

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTER (CCSC)

What Is It?

A nonprofit organization that serves “the poor, hungry, disabled, and otherwise needy while respecting their religious, ethnic, or cultural differences. “

Help Needed:

Volunteers help CCSC provide food, clothing, school supplies, and Christmas gifts to its low-income clients. Please contact CCSC for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

11-15 year olds may volunteer for some activities with an adult. Volunteers must be in high school to volunteer independently.

CHRISTMAS BOXES OF BLESSING – CHRIST THE KING PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

What Is It?

“A program that engages families experiencing food insecurity when their children are on Christmas break without school-provided meals. It fills thousands of Boxes of Blessing with enough food to feed a family for about a week during the Christmas holiday. Partner schools and ministries distribute the boxes to families that they work with all year, making this an extension of their long-term, committed community development.”

Help Needed:

High school & college age volunteers assemble the cardboard boxes during one evening in November, and 600 volunteers of all ages fill the boxes in December.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

3 years old

CITIZENS FOR ANIMAL PROTECTION (CAP)

What Is It?

A private, non-profit organization that provides shelter, adoption, foster care, rescue, and other services, as well as humane education and community outreach programs to encourage love and respect for animals.

Help Needed:

Help care for shelter animals, assist visitors, help at the clinic, represent CAP at festivals or other events, help at the Pet Supply Shop, and more. Please contact CAP for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

14. Youth age 14-15 must have a parent or legal guardian attend training and volunteer side-by-side with them at all times. When volunteering, one parent may supervise only one child at a time. Youth age 16-18 may volunteer without parental supervision, but a parent or legal guardian must sign a legal release.

CLOTHED BY FAITH

What Is It?

A nonprofit that “demonstrates God’s love through the provision of gently used clothing to those in need” in Houston, Katy, and surrounding areas.

Help Needed:

Help sort and bag clothing and shoes; assist with deliveries/pickups, repairs, or other “heavier” tasks; work at community events; or help in office. Please contact Clothed by Faith for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

12, for community events, with an adult. Warehouse and “muscle group” volunteers must be at least 14, and 14 & 15 year olds must volunteer with an adult. See details below.

COASTAL PRAIRIE CONSERVANCY

What Is It?

A nonprofit that “works to protect greenspace for its conservation and recreational benefits, enhance wildlife habitat, restore tallgrass prairie and wetlands, sponsor scientific research, and offer public programming and activities.”

Help Needed:

Work at the Indiangrass Preserve (remove invasive species, plant native grasses and other plants, work in plant nursery, collect or package seeds, help maintain trails, and more) or help grow plants at home.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

16, to volunteer independently. Volunteers age 12 and up are welcome when accompanied by a responsible adult.

COLLEGE MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY ASSOCIATION

What Is It?

An historic five-acre cemetery that was founded in 1896 and served as the burial site for Houston’s freed slaves who lived in the historic Fourth Ward. The cemetery was neglected for many years.

Help Needed:

Restoration began in 2007 and is ongoing. Volunteers are needed to help with work such as mowing, trimming weeds, and cleaning up litter. Please contact the Association for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

All ages may help, but children must be accompanied – and well supervised by – an adult. All volunteers must submit a volunteer waiver.

CORRIDOR RESCUE – A STREET DOG RESCUE

What Is It?

A nonprofit that works to rescue, rehabilitate, and find permanent, loving homes for abandoned animals in Houston’s “Corridor of Cruelty” (east of I-59 off Little York).

Help Needed:

Help replenish feeding stations, transport animals or supplies, work at adoption events, take photos or videos, donate needed items, and more.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

All ages are welcome, but volunteers under the age of 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

CYCLE HOUSTON

What Is It?

A children’s charity (formerly called Elves and More) dedicated to improving literacy in Grades K-3 by rewarding students with new bicycles for achieving better academic performance in the classroom.

Help Needed:

Build bicycles in 3 or 4 hour shifts. (Training is provided.)

Minimum Age to Volunteer

5. All children must be accompanied by an adult.

CZECH CENTER MUSEUM HOUSTON

What Is It?

A museum that provides “unique educational experiences based on authentic objects, art, music, stories, and lives of Czechs, Slovaks, and people of all cultures who left their country to seek liberty and democracy in America.”

Help Needed:

Help with seasonal celebrations, stuffing envelopes and other office work, gardening, cataloging items, organizing and cleaning, and more. Please contact the museum for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

13. If you are under 18, a parent or guardian must sign your volunteer application.

DEPELCHIN CHILDREN’S CENTER

What Is It?

A nonprofit agency that works to break the cycles of child abuse and neglect, integrating “prevention, foster care, adoption and post-adoption programs to improve the mental health and physical well-being of children who are at risk of entering or are in the State’s child welfare system.”

Help Needed:

Collect and donate new items such as school supplies, holiday gifts, household items, toys, and clothing. The Center provides holiday wish lists and other information. Please contact the Center for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

None, to collect/donate needed items. (Volunteers must be at least 18 to help with the children at the Center.)

DESCENDANTS OF OLIVEWOOD, INC.

What Is It?

A nonprofit organization that is working to clean, beautify, and revitalize the 6-acre Olivewood Cemetery, Houston’s first incorporated African American cemetery, which had suffered decades of neglect.

Help Needed:

Tasks include mowing grass, clearing weeds and brush, and planting flowers. Please contact the organization for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

None. All ages are welcome, but children must be accompanied by an adult.

DON GREENE NATURE PARK

What Is It?

A one acre neighborhood pocket park near the edge of Bellaire that “Eagle Scout, Outfitter, Outdoor Educator, and Conservationist” Donald Greene left to Harris County at his death in 2014.

Help Needed:

Help restore the park by attending a monthly workday, or scheduling a planting/restoration project.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

None.

DRESS A GIRL AROUND THE WORLD

What Is It?

A program that “delivers dresses & hope to girls in need & at risk around the world,” including within the U.S. The program is run by Hope 4 Women International, a Christian organization based in Arizona.

Help Needed:

Make simple cotton sundresses, hygiene kits, and/or sewing kits from instructions provided; the items are then delivered to needy girls in Central America, Africa, and elsewhere.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

None, but volunteers should be able to sew a simple but high-quality dress.

DRESS FOR SUCCESS HOUSTON

What Is It?

A nonprofit that works to “empower women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire, and development tools to help women thrive in work and life.”

Help Needed:

Help watch clients’ children (ages 4-11) during meetings, which take place about four times a month. Please contact the organization for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

16. Parent waivers are required for volunteers under 18.

EAST SPRING BRANCH FOOD PANTRY

What Is It?

A volunteer-run organization that provides food free of cost to people who need assistance and live in zip codes 77043, 77055, 77080, and 77024.

Help Needed:

Sort food, stock shelves, unload deliveries, help give out holiday bags, collect food to donate, and other tasks.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

12 (middle school). Middle school students are welcome to sort food. High school students may assist guests once they have had experience volunteering in other areas of the pantry.

EASTER SEALS GREATER HOUSTON – CAMP BUCKAROO

What Is It?

A week-long day camp for children ages 6-14 with disabilities and their siblings to attend together.

Help Needed:

Volunteers work one on one with a camper and act as his or her buddy all week at camp, developing a strong bond.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

14 independently; 13 with a parent/guardian.

EASTER SEALS GREATER HOUSTON – CAMP SMILES

What Is It?

A week-long overnight camp for children ages 6-14 with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders, at the barrier-free Camp for All. Each day campers participate in typical outdoor camp activities like rock climbing, fishing, paint ball, karaoke, swimming, and many more; all activities been adapted to fit the needs of each camper.

Help Needed:

Each teen counselor spends a week at camp with a camper buddy. Please contact Easter Seals for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

16

EASTER SEALS GREATER HOUSTON – ELECTRONICS RECYCLING

What Is It?

A nonprofit that offers a variety of community-based services that give people with disabilities opportunities to live, learn, work, and play as vital parts of their own communities or neighborhoods, and providing respite, support, and education for family members and caregivers.

Help Needed:

Collect unwanted electronics to help provide training opportunities for Easter Seals clients, or collect gently used tablets, which will be loaned to adults and children with disabilities to help them communicate and learn. Please note that these collection/donation programs are on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

No minimum age.

EASTER SEALS GREATER HOUSTON – FAMILY DAY OUT

What Is It?

A Saturday morning camp for children ages 6-14 with disabilities and their siblings ages 6-10. It’s a time for kids to have fun while parents take a break.

Help Needed:

Spend time one-on-one with a child, doing arts and crafts, playing games, or just having fun. Please contact Easter Seals for COVID-related updates.

Minimum Age to Volunteer

16