Turn your passion into volunteer experiences
by Sara
There is no cookie cutter way to give back, and we love to see people use their passions and creativity for good, whether at Easter Seals or any nonprofit that touches you. Many people reach out to organizations like Easter Seals to see what they need, but you are empowered to give us, or any nonprofit organization, a call and offer your ideas for donation of your time or unique skills.
In fact, we once had someone with a certification in gardening offer to teach seniors in an adult daycare program how to garden. For years now, they’ve collaborated on seasonal projects and everyone — the volunteer and students alike — feels excited for, and stimulated by, each new project. As we gear up for a partnership with the company Outerwall to inspire volunteerism, we thought it would be a great time to offer a bit of inspiration with volunteerism ideas. Sara Croft is here to offer some of the unique ideas from Easter Seals Crossroads in Indiana. Take it away, Sara!
Volunteer clean-up
Here at Easter Seals Crossroads, we’ve welcomed skills-based volunteers with open arms the past year. Here are a few examples of the sorts of people, skills and talents we’ve found useful:
Artsy people: Cayla is an art student at Heron High School in Indianapolis. She enjoys art and has brought that passion to our Adult Day program, which recently created an art therapy initiative. Cayla introduced the participants to a variety of painting mediums while they collaborated on a large canvas piece. She said “It was my first time volunteering and I was nervous but I had a great time and I will volunteer with the Adult Day Program again!”
Business people: Kate Stephens of That’s Good HR conducted mock interviews with consumers in our employment division to assist them with building interview skills. The local Indianapolis company specializes in recruitment and hiring and offered their expertise to our job coaches and consumers for a few hours during the weekday. Kate says “We loved our time at Easter Seals Crossroads! It is such a special place serving a wonderful cause!”
Social people: CampAbility, one of our summer day-camps, is great for anyone interested in Occupation, Physical, or Speech-Language therapy. All of the activities during camp have been developed by our therapists, and volunteers are responsible for assisting staff with activities that explore sensory/motor experiences, expand communication skills, and enhance social skills.
Outdoor people: Our Therapy and Wellness Garden is one of the highlights of our facility. The large fenced-in area is used by our Adult Day consumers year-round for growing vegetables and for outdoor activities. Keeping up on the maintenance for such a large outdoor area can be difficult. Volunteers keep the space beautiful by providing much needed mulching, weeding, trimming and general clean up. Local gardeners and landscaping companies have offered this assistance along with corporations who want a volunteer experience with their staff outside of the building.
Easter Seals Crossroads is thankful for the 700 volunteers that devoted their time to us during our last fiscal year along with the 9,182 volunteer hours that were served, and every Easter Seals is so grateful for any way you’d like to support us. Join us!
Your local Easter Seals affiliate is looking for volunteers with your skills and talents, too — any type of volunteering, whether it’s skills-based or a general opportunity, can give you the chance to improve on the skills and experiences you already have or to develop and practice new ones. One thing I hear from nearly every Easter Seals volunteer I talk to is that volunteering is as beneficial for them as it is for the affiliate they volunteer for.
December 29th, 2016 at 9:39 am
Please forward this to your marketing department. I have donated to you in the past and again this year. In addition to email solicitations, I have also received regular wasteful mailings with calendars, and other items which I do not feel is the best use of my contributions. If I continue to receive anything mailed to 4369 Moss Ridge Ct. Roswell Ga, other than emails, I will no longer contribute to Easter Seals.