The toy and food drives may have wrapped up for this Christmas, but if the season of giving has you thinking about volunteering, there are plenty of opportunities ahead, according to Faith McNeill, manager of the Montgomery County Volunteer Center in Germantown, Maryland.
“We actually had a lot of inquiries around Christmastime,” said McNeill.
But she said many nonprofits and volunteer organizations carry out holiday-related efforts ahead of Dec. 25. “So that families that need the food, or need the services, have that prior to Christmas Day or any other holidays,” said McNeill.
She said there are a myriad of opportunities for volunteers throughout the year.
“At the Montgomery County Volunteer Center, we manage a database of opportunities that connect volunteers or potential volunteers with over 1,500 organizations” in the county and across the D.C. area, McNeill said.
She explained there’s a bit of matchmaking that goes on.
“You can find opportunities based on an interest that you have, or based on your address if you want to find something close to your community,” McNeill said.
There are a large number of young people who volunteer, and part of that is due to the student service learning hours that students must complete for graduation. But many go above and beyond the required hours.
“We see a lot of students helping out at churches with food banks, we see a lot of students wanting to sign up to make blankets with an organization like Project Linus,” said McNeill. Project Linus provides knit and crochet blankets to children suffering from illnesses or trauma.
Looking ahead to January, McNeill said as many as 2,000 people sign up to work on projects that are planned throughout the county as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. birthday holiday.
“We are really focusing on that MLK Day of Service. We hope that many folks come out and join us for what’s often referred to as ‘a day on, not a day off,'” she said.
For information on volunteering, go to the Montgomery County Volunteer Center website and check out more information on the MLK Day of Service.
