Shalom Corps Volunteer Opportunities
The list below is a curated selection of just some of volunteer opportunities within the Chicagoland area. Participants of the program can select from the list or recommend an alternate selection after consulting with their program leader.
Virtual Volunteer Opportunities
Virtual Volunteer OpportunitiesAssata’s Daughters
Assata’s Daughters is a grassroots movement created by Black femmes, women, and gender-noncomforming people to address and improve conditions negatively impacting women-identifying, gender nonconforming, and femme young Black people in Chicago. You can get involved by donating and raising money for their campaign. On their page, the dollar amount listed correlates to the service it works to cover.
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Be My Eyes
By downloading the app, Be My Eyes, volunteers are paired with those who are visually impaired and help them through everyday tasks! You chat with them via video call and will help them with anything specific to that person’s needs!
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Best Buddies
You’ll be paired with children with intellectual disabilities and work on various projects together, from games to homework and more all online.
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Chicago Books to Women in Prison
This organization helps provide books to incarcerated women. They typically match letter requests to books! You can help by setting up a book donation drive, collecting funds to help support expenses, or set up your own fundraiser!
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Digs with Dignity
Digs with Dignity works to help make the transition process easier. For people who are moving into a home after experiencing homelessness, Digs with Dignity comes in and helps furnish their new home! This volunteering option is a mixture of virtual, donation based, and in person, so there are plenty of choices to get involved!
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Fill a Heart 4 Kids
Fill a Heart 4 Kids has a year-round service opportunity called Survival BacPacs where you can create your own fundraiser or donate your own BacPac! The purpose of this is to provide children experiencing homelessness with the proper necessities to learn: food and school supplies. There are other opportunities that usually run year round based on season and necessity, but BacPac runs year round!
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The Honeycomb Project
In response to the current health crisis, Honeycomb at Home is a new virtual volunteer program designed to uplift and mobilize kids during these uncertain times. There are free online lessons which feature inspiring videos, dinner discussion topics, enriching volunteer activities, and more. You can learn safe ways to make a difference from home.
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Illinois State Museum
Illinois State Museum is looking to collect artistic representations of and responses to life throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. These submissions will be used on the museum’s social media and online exhibitions. These artistic responses can range from visual to language arts through various mediums.
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KEEN (Kids Enjoy Exercise Now)
KEEN volunteers are assigned one program participant or “athlete.” Your job will be to help them engage in various exercise and sporting activities and have a good time!
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Lifting Hearts with the Arts
You get to connect with residents of care facilities! These folks have been impacted by physical and emotional isolation from their loved ones due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Via Skype, Zoom, FaceTime, etc, you get to communicate with a resident who you will be paired with! These pairings will be determined by mutual interests. You’ll be able to virtually engage in activities surrounding visual, language, performance, and even culinary arts.
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Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly
You’ll be able to create connections with elderly folks via handwritten letters and phone calls! Typically this organization acts in-person, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, volunteering programs have moved virtual. That being said, this is a great way to foster connections with elderly people within your community!
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Project Fierce Chicago
Project Fierce Chicago works to provide safe transitional housing for Chicago LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness or unsafe housing. You can create your own virtual fundraiser where you can raise money for the organization in general or for a specific campaign they’re running at that time! You can contact them if there are other ways you’d like to get involved as well.
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Refugee One
This organization works to make refugees feel welcome in the Chicagoland area! You can apply to be a volunteer in the following areas: young adult mentor, youth tutor, or adult mentor.
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Walk to End Epilepsy
The Walk to End Epilepsy works to raise money and awareness for epilepsy, a seizure disorder, which impacts 1 in 26 people nationwide! Due to Covid-19, you can participate in the walk from anywhere. You can log your progress or organize donations!
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In-Person Volunteer Opportunities
Brave Space Alliance
A Black, trans-led organization focused on empowering and elevating queer and trans voices, you can become a part of this incredible community through volunteering! Currently, you are able to aid the BSA Crisis Pantry Program and Crisis Pantry Network.
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Between Friends Chicago
Between Friends is working to build a safe community and provide help to survivors of domestic violence. Their ultimate goal is to have and live in a community. Virtual opportunities also available.
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Chicago HOPES for Kids
Chicago has a significant population of people experiencing homelessness. At Chicago HOPES for Kids, their mission is to serve children who are facing homelessness to ensure they don’t fall behind in school. You can get involved in different ways depending on the time of year!
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Chicago Pet Rescue
You have the opportunity to sign up to volunteer in a variety of areas within the Chicago Pet Rescue. These areas include handling animals and aiding them in socialization, volunteering to help adoption fundraisers, training animals, and more. However, if younger than 18 years old, you will need parental supervision.
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Cradles to Crayons
The mission of C2C is that every child will have all of the essentials that they need at home, at school, and at play. As a volunteer you will be working at the Giving Factory where you will inspect and sort donations which will then be distributed to the children they serve!
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Feed My Starving Children
At Feed My Starving Children you can help package nutritious meals for children experiencing hunger!
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Fill a Dream for Kids
This organization works closely with children with chronic, life-threatening illnesses and their families. One of the ways you can get involved is by checking up on their Volunteers drop down window! It’s periodically updated to meet the needs of where people are needed. One great event they host is their TC10K!
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Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD)
Volunteering at the GCFD includes activities such as repacking food into family sized portions, working with the FRESH truck, and more throughout the year!
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Habitat for Humanity Chicago
Building a better community starts at home. From working on the ground at ReStore, which provides furniture to the community and ensures no waste, or working on a building site to help create safe housing, to any other form of community building, there are so many ways to give back and help others!
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Heartland Alliance
Heartland Alliance works to counteract injustice and advance human rights. Based around the intersections of various sub-organizations within the greater Heartland Alliance, volunteers can gain experience working within these different spheres!
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Keshet
Keshet works with children and adults who are facing physical and/or intellectual disabilities. The organization helps those with disabilities live their lives as thoughtfully, fun, and wonderful as possible. There’s a list of general volunteering opportunities, from a buddy program to working with adults as activity companions! There’s a plethora of opportunities for people to be able to do good.
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La Casa Norte
La Casa Norte is more than just a shelter for those experiencing homelessness– they help not only within their own facility, but work closely with others tackling the same issues. Same ways you can get involved are through donation, helping at Fresh Market Pantry, or even just hosting an online fundraiser!
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Lakeview Pantry
You’ll have the opportunity to represent the Lakeview Pantry by helping to distribute pre-packaged bags of groceries at their Sheridan Market and La Casa Norte’s Fresh Market.
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My Block, My Hood, My City
At My Block, My Hood, My City, there’s a few different ways to get involved! One of which is through their monthly public events. Each month, M3 opens up to the public to engage in service. This includes but is not limited to distributing PPE throughout Covid, clean ups, food giveaways, and others!
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PAWS Chicago
You will be able to go to the PAWS Family Service Medical Center and help maintain a clean and safe environment for homeless pets. You will help clean areas of the center, assist with laundry and dishes, assist with any other special projects or tasks, and help socialize the animals!
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Urban Growers Collective
Urban Growers Collective is a Black and women run nonprofit! Their mission is to use food as means of fighting against environmental, economic, and racial injustice in the Chicagoland area. Devoted to working with BIPOC who have been victims of a disadvantaged system and systemic injustices, this organization has rooted itself in Chicago’s south side to do this good work. They offer weekly drop in volunteering opportunities!
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Collect and Drop Off Volunteer Opportunities
Collect and Drop Off Volunteer OpportunitiesClothing/Material Goods Drop Offs:
Collect unwanted clothes and other items around your house and donate them to places such as:
Food/ Personal Goods Collection and Drop Off
Collect or purchase non perishable food items and bring them to the following places:
