Does anyone here volunteer in their spare time?

[STORMS]

I was just curious who volunteers in their spare time? Kids? Animals? Elderly?

Both my husband and I volunteer for the Tri City Chargers. I coach poms/cheer for 10-11 year old girls and Mike coaches tackle football for 8-10 year old boys.

What do you do?

[LadyOhh]

When I wasn't working full time, I volunteered to be a Clinical Care Extender at the local hospital for two years. I ended up being in charge of the whole Oncology floor volunteers. It was a lot of fun, and one of the reasons why I intend to go back to school to help the people.

[STORMS]

Here's Tyler in his uniform...too cute!
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...p_08112007.jpg
Here's Meg ready to get her cheer on...
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...s/IM000801.jpg

[STORMS]

When I wasn't working full time, I volunteered to be a Clinical Care Extender at the local hospital for two years. I ended up being in charge of the whole Oncology floor volunteers. It was a lot of fun, and one of the reasons why I intend to go back to school to help the people.

That's awesome!

[tigerlily]

Yup, I volunteer all over the place. I help out with both of my kid's classes and soccer teams. I am the registrar for our soccer league as well, which means I do a lot of data entry. I'm also the assistant Daisy leader, and general lackey for cub scouts. Just about anything my kid's are involved in, I help out with.

[STORMS]

Yup, I volunteer all over the place. I help out with both of my kid's classes and soccer teams. I am the registrar for our soccer league as well, which means I do a lot of data entry. I'm also the assistant Daisy leader, and general lackey for cub scouts. Just about anything my kid's are involved in, I help out with.

Love it! I used to do the Brownie thing for my daughter - but she decided she no longer wanted to do it. It's great when parents get in there and lend a helping hand - there are too many out there that don't. IMO those are the ones that always seem to complain about everything but never offer to help.

[kc261]

Volunteering is a wonderful thing!

The first time I remember "volunteering" was when I was in 6th grade or so. I had elected folk dancing as a PE course, and the teacher got the idea that a local nursing home would enjoy a performance. I don't think the kids in the gym class had a choice about it! But I loved the folk dancing, and the old folks clearly were delighted at our performance, so it ended up being loads of fun.

When I was in college, I volunteered at a zoo, which was loads of fun! Mostly I gave tours to birthday parties & school groups, and on days when there were no tours needed, I took out "contact animals" to allow the public to get up close & personal with an animal. I worked with ball pythons (that's when I got hooked on them!), a cali king, iguanas, and I got trained to work with the raptors but shortly after that I had to quit volunteering so I unfortunately didn't work with them much.

Also I used to be involved in a program sorta like big brothers & sisters, but it was just a local group at my college called "best buddies". That was loads of fun! Hmmm. Notice a trend?

Recently all of my volunteering stuff is related to my daughter. I have volunteered MANY hours at her school, doing whatever is useful to the teachers. Sometimes that is just making copies or something else that is not very exciting, but other times I get to do things that are more fun & creative. The biggest reward is that my daughter sees I care about her education, plus I get more of an inside look at what really goes on in her classroom than most parent's do.

I also have coached my daughter's Odyssey of the Mind team for 3 years in a row. That has been TONS of work but fun also, and very rewarding watching the whole team learn & grow. This year we got 2nd place at both of our competitions! I was so proud of them!

[Nate]

I'm about to start working weekends at the Orlando SPCA. I don't have time to own a cat or a dog, so i figured spending my weekends, when i'm not working and usually bored, with some cats and dogs that really need the support would be a better way to spend my time, rather than ranking up on xbox..which i'm getting tired of.

I have to do a 3 hour shadow, and then do atleast 6 hours per month...I expect to do at least 6 hours a week.

I've gone through all of the necessary training, I'm just waiting for the call to come in...They don't have a whole lot of time to do the shadowing...they can only do one at a time, and I am on the bottom of the list..which kinda sucks...but I think it will be worth the wait

[Blu Mongoose]

It's been a while, but I volunteered at a dog and cat shelter doing grooming on weekends to make them look more adoptable. Also rehabbed and retrained problem dogs to give them a chance at adoption.
Did A lot of nursing home visits with our dogs., Worked a lot of rescue fundraisers. Worked many weekends at dog club events and horse events. Also some 4H . Still do some volunteering, but not near what I used to. Work has me doing such long hours.

I have taken some great experiences away from each volunteer job. There were also sad times, but I would do it over and over again!! Very rewarding!

[MeMe]

Oh..uhhhmmm...lemme see.

I was a soccer mom for my oldest daughters soccer team.

I was an assistant coach for her cheerleading team. They were 10-12 years old. I coached my youngest daughters cheerleading team. they were 5-7 year old.

I have been a class mom for 10+ years.

I was the V.P. at the middle school my oldest 2 children attended. I also was the dance coordinator, the Reflections coordinator, and I helped with all major functions.

I was a cheer mom for the first 2 years my oldest daughter attended high school.

I was also the "Female Chaperone" for all wrestling away trips...and next year my daughter (the cheerleader) is going to actually be ON the team! She is completely badass.

ohhhh...And...I was a football mom last year.

Good Lord.