help in an office (mailings, data entry, etc.)

ANGELA HOUSE

What Is It?

A transitional home for women coming out of incarceration. “Through comprehensive programs and partnerships, Angela House residents are given the opportunity and tools to maintain a positive lifestyle.”

Help Needed:

Projects could include helping organize the clothing room or other areas, tutoring women in GED topics or basic computer skills, helping with special events or holiday decorations, helping with administrative tasks, or collecting needed items. Contact Angela House for COVID-related updates.

ARTIST BOAT

What Is It?

A non-profit organization “protecting our Gulf Coast through land conservation and fun, educational, inspiring adventures that spark creativity, awareness, and action.”

Help Needed:

Help out at regular volunteer workdays, assist with special events like World Oceans Day celebration, or volunteer in the office. Please contact Artist Boat for COVID-related updates.

AVDA (AID TO VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE)

What Is It?

A non-profit that works to end family violence by advocating for the safety and self-determination of victims, promoting accountability for abusers, and fostering a community response to abuse.

Help Needed:

Assist with office tasks or special events, or help translate for clients.

BAKER RIPLEY HOUSTON TURKEY TROT

What Is It?

A Thanksgiving Day foot race for about 15,000 runners; the event supports BakerRipley, the largest community development organization in Texas.

Help Needed:

Hundreds of volunteers are needed to help with packet pickup, race day setup, water stations, serving food, and more. Please visit the Turkey Trot website for COVID-related updates.

BARC

What Is It?

A city agency that cares for and helps find homes for thousands of animals each year, and provides many other services.

Help Needed:

Needs include animal care, help with adoption and other events, foster pantry organization, facility beautification, and administrative help. Please contact BARC for COVID-related updates.

BEST BUDDIES TEXAS

What Is It?

A nonprofit “dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for friendships, employment, and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”

Help Needed:

Assist with the Friendship Walk & 5K fundraiser in April, or help with event planning in the office. The 2021 Friendship Walk date was April 17.

BUFFALO BAYOU PARTNERSHIP

What Is It?

A non-profit organization that is revitalizing and transforming Buffalo Bayou, Houston’s most significant natural resource. Work includes addition of major destinations, landscaping, water features, and pedestrian bridges in Buffalo Bayou Park.

Help Needed:

Groups or individuals can help with gardening, invasive species removal, trash pickup, trail work, special events such as KBR Kids Day, or administrative tasks. Please contact BBP for COVID-related updates.

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.

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.

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.

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.

EMERGENCY AID COALITION

What Is It?

An interfaith organization that collaborates to provide temporary assistance in the form of food, clothing, and other basic needs, with an emphasis on serving the working poor.

Help Needed:

Organize, pack, and serve food at the food pantry; help at the clothing center; distribute school supplies; and many more options. Please contact the EAC for COVID-related updates.

FRIENDS FOR LIFE

What Is It?

A no kill shelter and adoption agency that offers other services, including free spay/neuter services for animals in low-income communities, an animal food bank, and free behavioral services.

Help Needed:

Care for cats and dogs, work at adoption centers, help with administration/reception, assist with “Fix Houston” programs in local communities. Please contact the agency for COVID-related updates.

FRIENDS OF THE HOUSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

What Is It?

The Friends processes books that have been donated by Houston Public Library branches and by the community, then sells the books at affordable quarterly book sales and on its Amazon storefront. The sales fund literacy and cultural programs for the Houston community.

Help Needed:

Sort and scan books, list books for sale on Amazon, help move boxes in the warehouse,or similar tasks. Please contact Friends for COVID-related updates.

GALVESTON BAY FOUNDATION

What Is It?

A nonprofit that works “to preserve and enhance Galveston Bay as a healthy and productive place for generations to come” though advocacy, conservation, education, and research.

Help Needed:

Help with Abandoned Crab Trap Removal (February), the Armand Bayou Trash Bash (March), Marsh Mania marsh grass planting (April), or the Bay Day Festival (May), or assist in other ways. Please contact the GBF for COVID-related updates.

THE HEALTH MUSEUM

What Is It?

A nonprofit, interactive learning center that inspires passion and curiosity about health, the medical sciences, and the human body, attracting more than 2.5 million visitors a year.

Help Needed:

Assist with week-long Summer Discovery Camps relating to medicine, forensic science, and sports. Please contact the Health Museum for COVID-related updates.

HOLOCAUST MUSEUM HOUSTON

What Is It?

A museum dedicated to educating people about the Holocaust, and using the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides to teach the dangers of hatred, prejudice, and apathy.

Help Needed:

Projects could include helping with the Museum’s store or in its resource center & library, or with administrative tasks. Please contact the Museum for COVID-related updates.

HOUSTON BOTANIC GARDEN

What Is It?

Opened in Fall 2020, the HBG is intended to become “an oasis of great beauty allowing for contemplation, learning, inspiration, and research,” offering displays and programs, serving as a model for sustainability, and inspiring visitors to be stewards of the natural world.

Help Needed:

Volunteer projects include horticulture & gardening support, administrative work, cultivating the community garden, and helping with classes and special events. Please contact the HBG for COVID-related updates.

HOUSTON COMMUNITY TOOLBANK

What Is It?

A nonprofit tool lending program that serves other nonprofits by providing fast and easy access to large volumes of high-quality tools to increase the impact of service projects and community revitalization efforts.

Help Needed:

Organize, repair, and/or paint tools; help fulfill tool orders; assemble disaster readiness kits; help with data entry or photography. Volunteer opportunities are limited during the pandemic; please contact the ToolBank for updates.

HOUSTON FOOD BANK

What Is It?

A nonprofit that feeds 800,000 hungry people each year by distributing food through nearly 600 hunger relief agencies in 18 southeast Texas counties.

Help Needed:

Projects include sorting and packaging food, preparing meals, helping provide school supplies to teachers, organizing food drives, posting on social media, and helping with special events.

HOUSTON FURNITURE BANK

What Is It?

A non-profit that collects home furnishings and distributes them at no cost to families and individuals who have found housing through a social service agency or are assisted through a non-profit community organization.

Help Needed:

Needs include assembling or moving furniture, helping with mattress recycling, organizing donated items, or helping in the office. Please contact the Furniture Bank for COVID-related updates.

HOUSTON METHODIST HOSPITAL CARING TEENS PROGRAM

What Is It?

A program in which teen volunteers provide supplemental services in the hospital, while gaining personal satisfaction, personality development, maturity, and an understanding of various potential health careers.

Help Needed:

Possible assignments include administrative tasks, patient support, and hospitality. Please contact Methodist for COVID-related updates.

NORA’S HOME

What Is It?

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.”

Help Needed:

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.

NORTHWEST ASSISTANCE MINISTRIES

What Is It?

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.

Help Needed:

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.

PLANT IT FORWARD FARMS

What Is It?

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 Needed:

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.

SECOND SERVINGS OF HOUSTON

What Is It?

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 Needed:

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.

SIRE THERAPEUTIC HORSEMANSHIP

What Is It?

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.

Help Needed:

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.