I’d like to do some volunteer work for a couple hours every week or so, preferably with either children, prisoners, or ex-cons. I don’t know that I want the commitment of mentoring ala BB/BS just yet. Are the programs for prisoners and ex-cons usually compulsory or voluntary, and if the latter, are they usually just schemes for sentence reductions? Any other comments about volunteering in general are welcomed.
I’ve been on both sides of the volunteering fence. I’ve been a volunteer for a variety of agencies, as well as been in charge of everything from recruiting, to leading, to following up with volunteers. I’ve volunteered for a variety of causes, in a variety of situations. My kids have volunteerd ever since they could (my son was drug along with us when we’d volunteer, even if he “officially” couldn’t volunteer. You’d be surpised how much a five year old can assist.) My two oldest are still heavy volunteers.
There are two types of situations–event and long term. Event volunteering (which is what I’m best at) is usually a one shot deal. You show up, some one says “Please help with X”, and that’s what you do, then you leave after awhile. Long term is anything else. This usually takes much more of a committment than I’m willing or able to put forth, therefore I don’t attempt to commit to this type.
Different people look for different things with volunteering. Personally, I like doing something that will make a difference immediately–cleaning up a park, moving tables for an event, taking tickets for an event, organizing an office of a non-profit, etc. It’s also very important for me to see Volunteer Follow-up: a thank you in the mail, a phone call, acknowledgement before I leave the site, something. I’ve actually marked agencies off my list because of non-existent follow up (the local BB/BS special event volunteering is one–I volunteered for years at their special events and never once recieved any type of acknowledgement).
For many non-profit agencies, volunteers (or lack thereof) can make or break an agency. For many years, when I was in non-profit social services, the UW Day of Caring Volunteers, United Methodist Church Groups and Junior League (not to mention those who volunteered on their own, outside of organized volunteer groups), literally saved us thousands of dollars and man-hours which we couldn’t afford. We also stressed our own role in volunteer follow-up, which may be one reason why we had such fantastic volunteers.
I’ve not worked with the prison population–not within my own comfort zone–but I’ve dealt with ex-cons on a less official basis. Good luck with whatever you choose, and know that you’ll be needed.