Five fun and rewarding volunteer opportunities
Your help is needed! No community project would exist without volunteers. If you’re still looking for the right project to donate some of your time to, here are some opportunities we know will pay your time back tenfold. Raise your hands if you’re up for it and we’ll help you to get started.
Mentor with a CoderDojo
One of the biggest misunderstandings when it comes to volunteering with CoderDojo, the coding club for kids, is that you need to know how to code to be of any help. In fact there are many more roles to play and you can assist kids without having huge knowledge of html and php. And often, mentors just learn alongside the kids.
Look for a CoderDojo to join
Rescue surplus food at a Foodcloud Hub
There are no special skills needed either to volunteer at the Food Rescue Project, though a driver’s license is an advantage 🙂
Volunteers at Foodcloud Hubs in communities in Cork, Galway, Drogheda, Kildare and many more bring food donations from supermarkets to people who need it. The work may be simple, but the experiences you make here can change the way you think about your own lifestyle hugely, as Mary or Emma, who have volunteered with Foodcloud, can tell.
Find a Foodcloud Hub to join
Learn 30 different sports while volunteering with Community Games
More than 500 communities across Ireland run a Community Games chapter, so it’s very likely that there is one near you too. There are plenty of ways in which your help is needed, helping out at the sports events but also supporting with organising events, administrative work and more. You’d be joining more than 10,000 volunteers like Bernie from Donegal:
“It’s hard to explain the buzz you get from volunteering in Community Games. I get an insight into over 30 different sports and have made friends from all over Ireland.”
Find a Community Games chapter to join
Brighten up your Saturdays with parkruns
Enjoying the quietness of an early Saturday morning is one of the pleasures parkrun-volunteers can rave about. Others are looking into lots of happy faces at the start line, cheering first-time runners over the finish line and the great team spirit you can take in every week. As we learned from the parkrun in Bere Island, also children can make their first volunteering experiences here and learn life skills.
Teach English to migrant families with Fáilte Isteach
Around 1000 volunteer tutors help migrants each week to build confidence in speaking English by giving free conversational English classes. They also support people on a personal level with day-to-day questions and challenges that go along with moving to a new country. Depending on their previous experiences, volunteers get an initial training from Fáilte Isteach.
As Mairead from Fáilte Isteach Castlebar can tell: “It’s really good craic and doesn’t feel like volunteering at all. Now, my life wouldn’t be the same without it.”
