Volunteer Opportunities for Houston Teens
The primary health care provider for almost 130,000 veterans in southeast Texas, and provider of specialized care for veterans from around the country.
Participants in the Summer Teen Volunteer Program perform tasks throughout the hospital. Volunteers may also collect needed items. Please visit the Summer Program web page for COVID-related updates.
14, with a maximum age of 17.
A nonprofit dedicated to bringing together veterans and non-profit community partners to address issues facing our communities. The projects also empower veterans to find purpose through community impact, and inspire future generations to serve.
Events include helping at back-to-school events, sprucing up parks and schools, storm recovery projects, working at food banks and farmers’ markets, placing flags at military cemeteries, and more. Please contact The Mission Continues for COVID-related updates.
None. Children and teens are welcome at most projects.
A summer program that gives teen volunteers an opportunity to help Moody Gardens, a nonprofit educational destination, while gaining experience in a variety of career fields, including biology and education.
SAVY volunteers help staff with various duties and responsibilities, help educate visitors, and learn about a variety of career fields such as biology and education.
14. Maximum age is 17.
A museum offering more than 65,000 artworks from antiquity to the present, as well as educational programs, films, and more.
Youth volunteers may be needed at some events, including family days at the Museum and Bayou Bend, and the annual Children’s Party at Bayou Bend. Please contact the Museum for COVID-related updates.
13, with a maximum age of 17. (18-year-olds may volunteer as adults.)
Youth volunteers must submit an online application as well as the volunteer expectations and waiver forms. A parent or guardian must sign the waiver and application as well.
A “unique and treasured education center and nature park,” located in Bellaire’s Russ Pitman Park, which serves as an outdoor classroom for its nature science programming and also offers a nature play area.
Volunteers can be counselors for camps held during the summer and during school breaks, animal care assistants, Discovery Room guides, and special event assistants. The Center welcomes Scout projects and group projects. Please contact the Center for COVID-related updates.
13
A non-profit that provides educational services to children from low-income families. Services include a year-round middle school, an after-school program, a pre-k program, and college prep support. Nehemiah also helps new parents and those learning English.
Tutor and mentor students from grades K-12 during the year, or help students during the summer program. Please contact the Center for COVID-related updates.
14. Students younger than 14 must serve with a parent / guardian.
An affordable home away from home for transplant patients and their families who travel to the Texas Medical Center for their surgery. The facility offers “a warm, loving, and home-like environment so guests can focus on what is truly important – getting well.”
Meal preparation, gardening, playing games and doing art activities with guests, collecting kitchen supplies or other needed items, help maintain website. Please contact Nora’s Home for COVID-related updates.
15
A nonprofit social service agency that “strives to supply basic human needs through neighbors helping neighbors“; programs include a children’s clinic, Meals on Wheels, a food pantry, senior services, emergency aid, and more.
Assist at the food pantry, children’s clinic, or resale shops, or with holiday or back-to-school events, or collect needed supplies. Please contact NAM for COVID-related updates.
16. Volunteers under the age of 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
A non-profit that improves the lives of young refugees as they face the great challenges of learning a new language and adapting to a new way of life. “Our programs assist youth in adjusting to American life, achieving academic success, and becoming self-sufficient and engaged members of our community.”
Serve as an after-school mentor and tutor, or help lead the middle school summer program, including field trips and other activities. Please contact PAIR for COVID-related updates.
16. Parental permission is required if volunteer is under 18.
A nonprofit that offers economically disadvantaged refugees an opportunity to become self-sufficient through growing, harvesting, and selling produce from a sustainable urban farm in Houston, while providing fresh, local produce to Houstonians.
Help with farming activities, prepare produce for market, sell produce at farmers’ markets, work on fundraisers or other special projects, take photos, help with social media, or assist in the office. Please contact Plant It Forward for COVID-related updates.
7. Volunteers age 7-16 must have adult supervision. Students over 16 can work independently (or in groups) with parental approval.
The largest provider of donated medical supplies and equipment to developing countries around the world. Since its inception, it has delivered medical relief to needy people in over 130 countries.
Sort and pack medical supplies, help in the warehouse, or donate Kits for Kids. Please contact Project C.U.R.E. for COVID-related updates.
15, to help at the warehouse. All ages may help with Kits for Kids.
A national nonprofit that delivers handmade blankets to children in local hospitals, child abuse centers, and other facilities where a child might feel anxious or unsafe. Since 1996 the Houston chapter has distributed more than 21,000 blankets.
Volunteers make blankets and bring them to a drop-off location; the chapter then distributes the blankets to needy children.
None, but volunteers must be able to make a blanket suitable for presentation to a needy child.
A nonprofit organization focused on “community service, social development, and unity within our community.” It promotes the practice and obligation of Zakat (charity), one of the five Pillars of Islam, and welcomes volunteers of all faiths.
Help with serving meals at Loaves & Fishes Soup Kitchen, distributing food to the homeless at various locations, and other projects. Please contact Promulgate for COVID-related updates.
None
A nonprofit that rescues pregnant dogs, nursing litters, and orphaned puppies from the streets, shelters, and other life-threatening situations and matches them with permanent adoptive homes.
Fostering, helping with events, fundraising, hosting supply drives, and more. Please contact Pup Squad for COVID-related updates.
16, to volunteer independently. If aged 12-15, the volunteer must be accompanied at all times by an adult (preferably a parent).
A nonprofit organization that offers a home away from home providing care, compassion, and hope to families with seriously ill children being treated in Texas Medical Center member institutions.
Offer a family meal and/or a family activity, bake cookies, help with events, or collect needed items. Please contact RMH for COVID-related updates.
16. Volunteers at the MD Anderson facility must be 18.
A program that invites individual donors to provide Christmas gifts for disadvantaged children and seniors in the Houston area.
In November, choose a wish list from a disadvantaged child or senior, purchase items (average $60-70), and return them to the Angel Tree.
None.
A nonprofit organization that helps men, women, and children move from the streets into jobs and safe, stable housing. SEARCH “meets clients where they are and gets them back on their feet through services that engage, stabilize, educate, employ, and house.”
Make snack packs, assemble hurricane kits, make welcome-home mugs or keychains for clients, decorate grocery bags and write notes, or collect needed items. Please contact SEARCH for COVID-related updates.
No minimum age to make or collect items. Minimum age to serve onsite is 12. Volunteers age 12-17 must serve with an adult chaperone unless cleared with the Volunteer Coordinator in advance.
Volunteers must be at least 18 to volunteer onsite without an adult chaperone.
“A nationally accredited early childhood education program that provides developmentally-
Make tablecloths, help with seasonal festivals, collect holiday wish-list gifts or basic supplies, or help organize an “in-house field trip” at HTT. Please contact HTT for COVID-related updates.
12, if serving onsite. Volunteers age 12-17 must serve with an adult chaperone unless cleared with Volunteer Coordinator Molly Martin in advance.
Volunteers must be at least 18 to volunteer onsite without an adult chaperone.
Houston’s only prepared food rescue organization; it picks up surplus unserved food from caterers, hotels, sports venues, and other regulated food businesses and delivers it the same day to dozens of approved charity meal sites, serving more than 6,500 needy people a week.
Help rescue food at various events and venues and load the refrigerated vehicles for delivery to charity sites, or help at the office with internet research, analysis, and administrative tasks. Please contact Second Servings for COVID-related updates.
Volunteers age 12 and up are welcome. Volunteers must be at least age 16 to ride in Second Servings’ vans.
A non-profit organization that works to improve the quality of life for people with special needs and disabilities through therapeutic horsemanship activities and therapies, and educational outreach.
Volunteers may be side-walkers or horse leaders, or assist with special events, administrative work, barn cleaning, or other tasks. Please contact SIRE for COVID-related updates.
14
A national, volunteer-run organization that provides beds, complete with mattresses and bedding, to needy children. There are three chapters in the Houston area.
Help build beds on regular Build Days; possibly help deliver beds. Please contact SIHP for COVID-related updates.
12. Volunteers age 12-17 must be accompanied by a legal guardian.
A non-profit organization that operates three preschools for economically at-risk children, providing a high-quality education, social and emotional support, a nurturing Christian environment, transportation, and nutritious meals.
Summer camp volunteers to help teachers in class, at meals, and on the playground; donations of needed items are also always welcome. Please contact Small Steps for COVID-related updates.
Volunteers must be entering 7th to 12th grade.
A nonprofit that helps people in need get back on their feet; it provides short-term financial, material, and emotional support and works one-on-one through advocacy, education, and referral to break cycles of poverty, empower people, and promote self-sufficiency.
Help at resale shops or food pantries, help in the office, or collect needed items. Please contact the Society for COVID-related updates.
15, to volunteer independently. Youth between the ages of 8-14 must be accompanied by an adult.
A charity that provides year-round sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, “giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship.”
Help with competitions / events by serving as a timer, scorekeeper, escort, or similar position.
15, to volunteer independently. Ages 8-14 must have an adult chaperone. (Children aged 7 and younger are welcome to come as spectators with an adult chaperone.)
A “Christ-centered community dedicated to meeting the needs of homeless men and women and their children. Positive life changes are encouraged through structured programs which focus on spiritual growth, education, employment, life management and recovery from substance abuse.”
Volunteers may help serve meals, provide evening snacks to women and children, collect school supplies and other needed items, write notes of encouragement, and help with other projects. Please contact the Star of Hope for COVID-related updates.
Kitchen volunteers must be high school age (with chaperone); all ages may serve snacks or write encouraging notes.
This program’s goal is to mark every storm drain in Harris County in order to prevent pollution from entering our local waterways.
Affix special markers to neighborhood drains that say “No Dumping, Flows to Galveston Bay.” These remind residents to keep pollutants and trash out of the drains. More than 41,000 markers have been placed so far.
None
SCA’s Community Programs “aim to build the next generation of conservation leaders and environmental stewards by getting local Houston youth out into their community and environment to do hands-on service to the land.”
Work on conservation projects throughout Houston, learn about environmental issues, and enjoy outdoor recreation during a 4-week summer program or during 5 weekends during the school year. Please contact SCA for COVID-related updates.
Applicants must be 14-19 years old and be enrolled in high school.
