Charity/Volunteer Work

[ZiggyOtaku]

I've never been one who does a whole lot of community service, but now that I'm living on my own as a struggling college student and struggling to find a job - I feel that it's growing to be more and more important I start doing regular community service.

I feel that it's important due to the fact that when I go to get a scholarship - even if my GPA is pretty, a lot of students GPA are pretty. I feel like community service would set me apart. Not to mention while I'm looking for a job I'm doing -something- in the mean time. So I'm not stagnant. It'll look better on my resume.

The problem is I'm having a hard time coming up with good areas to volunteer at. I want to be somewhere I can enjoy myself and it be important to me, but I'm just having a hard time finding places.

I just applied to be a volunteer at a kitty shelter with a no-kill policy. It's a real nice place and I applied to be a feeder/cleaner along with a 'kitty buddy' where I select cats from a list and have to spend a minimal of 30 minutes a month with a kitty to help socialize them. (I love kitties)

But I fear that volunteering at a shelter alone isn't going to be enough. A prospective employer in my opinion won't care about me helping and spending time with kitties. I feel like I need to do something for the community for people as well.

I'm not a big cancer activity person. My mom has had cancer and her best friend has had cancer twice. I'm all for supporting to find a cure for cancer, but research shows walks and accessories to buy don't do nearly as much as people are led to believe. I think it's great to show support for it, but it's just not me to be quite honest.

What are other things I could do?

How do I go about finding these types of local charities?
I live in Marietta, Georgia (U.S.A) by the way, a hair above Atlanta.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[noise94]

Hey there! [:

You know, the helping out at the Shelter will help you a lot. It will look great on resumes, absolutely anything you do in your spare time, helping out others, looks very impressive for future employers, believe me. It shows extreme dedication, and that's what they care about more, rather than what exactly you're doing.

*How about volunteering in a Charity Shop? That would definitely look very good, and could even be a little fun! There are tons of things you could do, really.

*Are there any organisations for Special Needs people in your area, perhaps? They're always looking for volunteers.

As for finding the local charities, the phone book, or Google! Google is your friend here. [:

[Keep Calm and Eat Cake]

Ohh kitty shelter that sounds like a nice idea for volunteer work.
Yeah definately do some volunteering. Looks very good for future employers - shows motivation.
Im help out in a charity shop once a week which is quite nice. Im on the till so i get to chat with customers who are always lovely.

[ZiggyOtaku]

I actually found this really great website that's like a search engine for volunteer services. www.volunteermatch.org

You type in your zip code or area and the type of community service you'd like to do and they give a bunch of descriptions for different services available.

It's like monster... only you're applying to work for free and for a cause

But I found several things that would -really- help my resume. A lot of places are looking for someone to do clerical assistant help with data entry, call takers, organizing paperwork and so forth and I need more of that experience to get into the more office type area.

I'm going to a community service group tomorrow to fill out an application, they're called the community of education.

Also this sunday I'm going to the 'Good Mews' kitty shelter for orientation.