Looking to volunteer on Thanksgiving Day!?

Question

I live in the Ventura, CA area - need to find a place to be for Thanksgiving, and want to help out the less fortunate. I don't have a lot of time to search around - can anybody help?

Answer 1

Get ready for Christmas. Start early in your volunteering.

Answer 2

You are starting your search much too late. Volunteering on Thanksgiving Day is extremely difficult, because organizations are overwhelmed with requests from people wanting to do such on that day. To volunteer on Thanksgiving Day, you need to starting thinking way in advance. It's too late for 2007, but it's not too late to start thinking about 2008.

Firstly, you need to establish a relationship with an organization you want to volunteer with on Thanksgiving Day 2008, and to do that, you need to volunteer *now*. Sites like VolunteerMatch can help you find an organization that needs volunteers year round -- animal shelters, food pantries, hospices, assistive living facilities, homeless shelters and hospitals and on and on and on. Decide what you are interested in, how often you could volunteer, what time of day you can volunteer, and then start applying for appropriate opportunities. Remember that finding a volunteering opportunity is a lot like finding a job -- you have to present yourself very well, and you have to contact many organizations before you are ultimately chosen.

Volunteer regularly for an organization or two throughout the year -- even just a couple of afternoons a month -- and when Thanksgiving 2008 comes around, you will have a place waiting for you to volunteer that day.