Volunteer Work!! Who does it, and what do you do?

[Lilavati]

I do pro bono work through the firm (right now I'm working on a deportation case) and I'm working on training Sarama to do therapy work, I'm hoping to either work with austic children, or to incorporate it into my pro bono work and help abused and neglected children give testimony.

I've volunteered at a shelter, but gave it up when I caught ringworm and it became too traumatizing for me. . . then I did some work at inner city schools. But both of those are in the past.

 

[Dreeza]

i volunteer at a place called Therapeutic Riding...allows disabled children to ride, and then I also volunteer with a physical therapist who does hippotherapy (a form of physical therapy on horseback), and also does some therapeutic riding as well.

 

[smkie]

Wasn't Scouting the pits, Smkie !!! No appreciation from anyone !!! I was den mother for too many years ! Thinking up things to do and then parents always picking their boys up late ....me with dinner to fix and 2 other youngsters . My biggest mistake was having them make pulled taffy for their parents for Christmas .....what a mess !!!

AAron was in from tiger cub to eagle, and that mandated most of everything we did. There were parts of it i found very helpful and believed in but 202O hindsight there was alot going on i didn't know about and now am not happy about it at all.

 

[eddieq]

I've been blessed with girls, so I've been heavily involved in Girl Scouting for several years. The biggest pain I see (besides the beaurocracy) is getting the parents to be involved. Too many want to do a "dump and run". Bless you both for doing that for so many years!

 

[smkie]

I do pro bono work through the firm (right now I'm working on a deportation case) and I'm working on training Sarama to do therapy work, I'm hoping to either work with austic children, or to incorporate it into my pro bono work and help abused and neglected children give testimony.

I've volunteered at a shelter, but gave it up when I caught ringworm and it became too traumatizing for me. . . then I did some work at inner city schools. But both of those are in the past.

VIctor would so rock at that, he is very very good with small children and if there is one thing i know personally it is abuse and neglect. Do you know who i could contact to be involved in a program like that?

 

[Sweet72947]

I volunteer at Friends of Homeless Animals, a no-kill dog and cat shelter. I walk dogs and pet kitties, and help adopters.

In my senior year of HS I volunteered at this place where poor people could come and get free food (you had to get so many hours of volunteering to graduate). Grocery stores and such would donate all their expired food there and stuff. It was an interesting experience. There was the lady that sang hymns to herself while working, the old man who seemed homeless himself who also volunteered there, who never spoke. The grizzled old lady who was the leader of them all. Yes, there's a great novel there somewhere.

 

[SarahFish]

i volunteer at a place called Therapeutic Riding...allows disabled children to ride, and then I also volunteer with a physical therapist who does hippotherapy (a form of physical therapy on horseback), and also does some therapeutic riding as well.

We did a hippotherapy course a while back, but so far we haven't had any kids who need to do it. We've only got a couple of kids with physical disabilities and they don't do it, but it would be interesting when we eventually do.

 

[CelticxConnections]

Currently I only do NHS run volunteering because I don't have a car and can't get anywhere. As soon as I get my car I'm going to volunteer at a shelter.

 

[M&M's Mommy]

I've been volunteered as a Catechist at my parish for almost 15 years. For the first 12 years, I was a teacher in the Children Catechism program. For the last 3 years until now, I'm working with the adults in the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) program.

 

[bubbatd]

Therapeutic Riding is a great program ! We donated one of our old show horses to one. ( no , not a family member .... an old show jumper that we bought for $1.00 from a friend to use as a Hunter until our yearling was broken .) Then when Nash was born with DS he went into the program . Was great for his developement !! He still loves horses and who knows .... Special Olympic Equestrian ! ?

 

[Lilavati]

VIctor would so rock at that, he is very very good with small children and if there is one thing i know personally it is abuse and neglect. Do you know who i could contact to be involved in a program like that?

The two big therapy dog organizations are Therapy Dogs International http://www.tdi-dog.org/ and The Delta Society http://www.deltasociety.org/. They work with all sorts of organizations that help people who can benefit from pet therapy.

As for specifically helping abused and neglected children in a legal context, I really only know that it has been done. They've even let the dogs onto the witness stand to help the kid testify. But I don't really know how to get into it. The pro bono coordinator at the firm is looking into it. It probably involves volunteering as a guardian ad litem (which I don't think you have to be a lawyer to be in most states) and then letting the judges know you come with a special furry bonus. Right now, the important thing is to get Sarama certified, and then I'm pretty sure the rest will come.

 

[scob89]

I have volunteered at the TLC Canine Center here in Newell since 2001. I mainly walk the dogs and when there are one that have been dumped on the road, I help get most of those. Brenna is a main dog at the shelter too, she helps get the new dogs used to being around other dogs. Even if the new dog is way smaller then Brenna.

 

[TheWonderPuppies]

I volunteer for a local animal shelter and every year i volunteer at a non-profit haunted house!(some times around christmas i help out at the soup kitchen but i havnt done that in a while)