Fall Volunteer Opportunities

At the 14^th & Chestnut Community Center

“Serving the children of our community with Christ’s love,

generous hearts, and sincere concern.”

       Fall is fast approaching and so is the need for volunteers to assist with our free after-school program for the children of this inner-city neighborhood. If you are interested in volunteering, we offer many different positions and time commitments. We have broken down volunteer positions into small time commitments so that everyone can do a small part to make a BIG difference in the children’s lives! Please call 232-3126 if you would like to volunteer!

Homework Tutors. We are looking to have at least (2) homework tutors each evening to assist children with their schoolwork. Tutors need to volunteer (1) afternoon per week from 3-5 PM. This would be a great position for retired teachers!

Reading Coaches. This summer we offered the “Reading Coaches” tutoring program for our students having difficulty with reading. Free training is available through ISU. Volunteers need to commit to tutoring from 3-5 on (2) afternoons per week.

Quilting/Sewing Assistants. We need volunteers to assist our quilting team with these classes. They meet on Mondays (3-5 PM).

Basketball Coaches. We need basketball coaches for girls’ and boys’ teams. Practices will be held twice a week for each team.

Creative Cooking Classes. Our kids love to cook. We are looking for a team of two or three who will come once a month (3^rd Mondays of the month) 3-5 PM to teach 3 small groups of students.

Computer Lab Supervisors. We need computer lab supervisors who can volunteer one or two evenings a week in our Lab (3-5 PM). Volunteers will help children type homework assignments, play computer games, and learn basic computer skills.

Children’s Library Assistants. We are looking for (2) assistants – each one to volunteer (1) day per week (3-5 PM) in our Children’s Library. The Library is open on Mondays and Thursdays.

Youth Group Workers. We are going to hold Youth Group for our middle school and high school students on the 2^nd and 4^th Mondays of each month (4:30-5:30). Youth pastors, youth workers, and others called to work with youth are invited to participate.

Game Night Volunteers.  On the first Friday of each month, we will be holding Game Night for our 3^rd grade and older students. The kids really loved this exciting night last year. We need volunteers to assist from 3-5 PM once a month for this activity!

Science Club Assistants. Science Club will be held on the 4^th Monday of each month (4-5 PM). We have a Science Club organizer but she will need assistants!

Grumbling Tummies Café Volunteers. In order to feed up to 70 children per meal, we need many dedicated volunteers to staff our kitchen. Most volunteers arrive around 3:30 and are finished by 6:30. If you can’t cook, you can help serve! J

Art Classes. We are looking for art or craft instructors and assistants to do projects on the 2^nd Monday of the month (3:30-5:00 PM).

Career Day Presenters. Each Tuesday from 3:30-5:00 we present a new career to our students. If you have an exciting career and would like to share about it with our children, please call for an upcoming Tuesday to volunteer! (One time commitment!)

Survival Skills for Teen Girls. We are excited to begin offering this program to our teenagers that has been offered to women. We have a wonderful facilitator for the program but she will need assistants. They will meet each Tuesday and Thursday (4-5 PM). Call for details!

**We would love to offer this to the teenage guys if we could locate a male facilitator for their program.

Diva Girls. We are looking for a team of females to lead our 3^rd-5^th grade Diva Girls. They will focus on building self-esteem, respect for themselves and others, etiquette and manners, etc. They will meet each Wednesday from 3:00-4:00 PM.

JAM Teachers or Assistants. A few of our teams do not have JAM (Jesus and Me – Sunday School type classes) teachers or assistants. They meet each Wednesday (4-5). If you want to share Jesus’ love and Good News with our students, this is the opportunity!

Chapel Teams. We are looking for Chapel Teams to lead Chapel. Each team will need to lead for one week (M-F 5:00-5:30). We plan to have 8-12 Chapel Teams, so you will need to serve only once every 2 or 3 months.

Scrapbooking Instructors. We would like for our 3^rd-5^th grade girls to learn scrapbooking techniques so that they can maintain a scrapbook of all of the Community Center’s activities each year. The group will meet on Thursdays (3:30-4:30).

Girl Scout & Boy Scout Leaders/Assistants. We offer Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts on Thursdays (4-5 PM). We need men volunteers to work with our Boy Scouts and a Brownie and a Cadette leader for the girls.

Tumbling Teachers. We plan to offer basic tumbling classes for our K-1^st and 2^nd grade students. Tumbling will be offered on the 1^st and 3^rd Friday of each month (3:30-4:00).

One Heart, One Voice Children’s Choir. We need help with our Children’s Choir that will practice each Friday (3:30-4:00). We hope that the children will be able to begin singing for different churches in the near future!

Birthday Blasts! On the fourth Friday of each month (4-5) we have birthday parties for each team to celebrate the children who had birthdays during the month. We need groups, Sunday School classes, organizations, or youth groups to sponsor a birthday party. Call for more details of what is involved.

Service Project Team. We are trying to teach the children to give back to their community. We need a team to come in on the 3^rd Friday of the month (4-5 PM) to work on a service project with the children. For example, at Christmas you might want to make Christmas cards and treat bags for nursing home residents.

Team “Leaders”.  We need individuals to serve as “guides” and take the children around to their different activities each evening. We will need (6) Team Leaders per night (3-6 PM). We would like to get the same people working with each team to provide stability to the children. THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT VOLUNTEER POSITION – WITHOUT TEAM LEADERS WE CANNOT PROVIDE A STABLE, DISCIPLINED ENVIRONMENT FOR THE CHILDREN. If leaders will volunteer to be here one or two nights a week and work with the same age group of children, the children will thrive!

Big Brother/Big Sisters. We offer the Big Brother/Big Sister program at our facility. If you would like to “adopt” a little brother or sister through this national program, please contact us.

Upcoming Once-A-Year-Projects:

If you would like to assist as an individual, group or church with one of these upcoming projects, please call Stacie at 232-3126. These are great opportunities to show Christ’s love to our community!

-Harvest Happening (October 31) 5:30

-Family Thanksgiving Dinner Served to our children and their families on Tuesday, November 25

-Collect for, assemble and distribute Thanksgiving Baskets to families we serve.

-Organize and assist with production of a children’s Christmas Program to be held on December 18

-Family Christmas Dinner Served to our children and their families on Thursday, December 18

-Extra Help will be needed on these days of Christmas Break when our volunteer staff is usually low and the number of children is high J Great opportunity for youth on Christmas Break to serve. (December 22, 23, 26, 29, and 30)

-Groups to collect for and assemble “take-home” food bags for the children when we are closed (2) days at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

-Assistance with Christmas parties, gifts, collections of coats, gloves, and hats.