'Tis the Season to Give Back!

December is that great time of year when students and professionals alike often celebrate the holiday season with big chunks of time off. Vacation time for work, winter break for students, either way, it’s a nice time to sit back with some eggnog and relax. 

However once the novelty of that wears off and you start looking for things to do, you might find that volunteering is a great way to have a different type of vacation. In fact, the vacation times associated with end of year holidays are actually perfect for volunteering. We’ve often stressed that you don’t need to travel far to find volunteer opportunities, since tons of agencies in Fairfield County need your help, especially during the holidays!

Our friends at Person-to-Person, for example, recently posted a huge batch of volunteer opportunities involving their food pantry. Domus needs help with hot meal preparation. Family & Childrens Agency in Norwalk could use your creativity when it comes to helping their clients have access to nutritious meals or enrichment programs. As the demand for opportunities rises, so does agency need for dedicated people like you.

Also consider that during your time off, you don’t have to constantly juggle your work or school obligations (we hope!). We’ve written about the struggle a lot of dedicated volunteers have when it comes to managing the delicate work-life balance, but your time off is completely unstructured and you aren’t limited by your usual obligations. Imagine being able to volunteer at almost any time you want and not being limited to a particular day or hour.

Volunteering doesn’t have to be entirely separate from work, either. If arranged in advance, most schools will be happy to provide some credit hours for a volunteering experience. Speak with both your academic advisor and your future volunteer coordinator to make arrangements well in advance. If you’re in the workplace, you could even make volunteering an office-wide experience. Agencies will be overjoyed at having an entire office of volunteers on board!

There are lots of creative ways you can take advantage of holiday time for volunteering, but the best time to start is now as we move into the middle of December. Sign up at VolunteerSquare to find your best local Fairfield County volunteer opportunities while there’s time to arrange team efforts with school or office friends!