Does anybody know of Christmas volunteer opportunities in the Andover/Lawrence, MA area?

Answer 1

VolunteerMatch (http://www.volunteermatch.org), Idealist (http://www.idealist.org) and CraigsList (http://www.craigslist.com) all list volunteering opportunities with thousands of organizations, many of them in your area. There's also this government sponsored site (http://volunteer.gov/gov/) which provides volunteer positions through USA federal land agencies like Fish & Wildlife, Forest Service, National Parks, etc. Also, contact your local volunteer center; you can find this via the Points of Light Foundation web site (http://www.pointsoflight.org/centers/).

Volunteering during the holidays can be VERY difficult, because organizations are overwhelmed with requests from people wanting to do such at this time of year -- there often aren't enough opportunities to go around. Before you contact any organization, you need to have identified the skills you want to offer, identified how often you could volunteer and what time of day you can volunteer, and worked out any transporation issues. 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.