I work in the non-profit sector so volunteering is my job. Whenever I've needed to find some…read morereliable, hard working, up to do anything people... I turn to this meetup group, and I'm never let down. It's so great to have a go-to bunch of people, some of them perfect strangers, that are so willing to lend a helping hand without wanting anything in return. These individuals volunteer solely because they can. So, if you have some spare time... check them out... there is always something to help out at and there is quite a variety of things to choose from!

Great group! There's no commitment beyond the one-time volunteering events you can sign up for when…read moreyou want to on meetup.com or through their website. You get to meet some pretty nice and cool people. Plus, they have a wide array of events, so there's something for everyone. There's also social gatherings from time to time, to connect with the people you volunteer with. Well worth it!

Boston Cares pairs you up up with non profits of your choice at convenient times. It's really easy…read moreand excellent way to volunteer at places all around boston. I can't stress this enough how easy it is to volunteer. The diversity of organizations as well is superb. They offer everything from food kitchens to the symphony! To join they require a $30 one time registration fee and you must attend an online (zoom) orientations. Stress free all around, and such an amazing way to interact with our community!

Could some additional checking in and some additional outlets. I have over 200 hours and I call…read moreabout some jobs and no one ever called me back. Still a good resource

I agreed to be a Loader. A Loader, I was told, had to have the ability to lift at least 50-70…read morepounds for three hours. Naturally, I saw this as a challenge, and I accepted. The Greater Boston Food bank employs 14,500 volunteers and provides 19.5 million meals to 320,000 people in New England annually, not just Boston. Volunteers allow the GBFB to defer nearly $600,000 in payroll costs. Wow. Volunteers help in many ways, but mainly by inspecting, sorting and re-packing food at the Roxbury warehouse. Here is what my team accomplished in an afternoon shift: . Number of volunteers: 43 . Total pounds of food sorted: 10,412 (Ten Thousand Pounds!) . Total pounds of food salvaged: 8,330 . Pounds of food sorted per volunteer: 194 . Meals made possible per volunteer: 149 . Total meals made possible by NAIOP volunteers: 6,407 There are many ways to help. You can donate money. You can donate food. You can volunteer for a less physically demanding job. Just do something.

If you're looking for a place to volunteer, this is it. Good for singles or groups. Call ahead,…read moresign in, get ready to sort. Huge new clean place used to sort donated food. It's awesome. You get a rundown on food safety, what to look for, how the process works, then you're off to the main room to sort. It's actually kinda fun. And the facility is nice and new so it's definitely safe and good. Bonus - they feed you expired candy and crap after you're done! Yay!?

Are you a busy person looking to help out in the community when you can? Are you social (or trying…read moreto be) and would like to connect with others you wouldn't otherwise know? Enter One Brick Boston! The One Brick Boston calendar (http://boston.onebrick.org) is full of varied volunteer opportunities to satisfy many different interests. Events are timed in a way to fit into the schedules of working professionals, as they occur in the evenings or on the weekends. And for us commitment-phobes, there are no regular meeting or training requirements - just sign up for an event, show up on that day, and volunteer with cool people! And better yet: One Brick includes a social component to volunteering! After the majority of events, the One Brick Event Manager will invite the volunteers to an optional social (usually at a nearby bar), so they can continue getting to know each other. One Brick also hosts monthly volunteer socials at a different spot every month. Past socials have been held at Slumbrew's Brewery, American Fresh Assembly Row, Bantam Cider Tap Room, the Asgard, Dillon's, Highball Lounge, Howl at the Moon, Boston Beer Works, and the Lawn on D among others. One Brick is all about being involved in the community. They have partnerships with over 60 nonprofits as well as Slumbrew, Bantam Cider, and Cambridge 5K. At Highball Lounge, for every mini rubber duckie patrons add to their (crazy good) cocktails, a portion of the proceeds are donated to One Brick, so you can feel even better about drinking when you add #oneduckforonebrick (more details here: http://www.highballboston.com/promotions/one-duck-for-one-brick.htm). Trust me, guys, this organization really is the perfect mix! Try it out for yourself.

This sounds like a great group and they do a ton of different kinds of volunteer work. However, it…read morewas really hard to meet anyone and get involved. I attended an event that helped high school students who wanted to go to college with the process. I had a good time and I really enjoyed the experience. However, there was a lot of volunteers there and I couldn't tell or find anyone who was with One Brick. In the email before the event the organizer said they'd be wearing a one brick t-shirt but I couldn't find anyone at the event. Believe me I looked!! I didn't have the names for anyone else involved and had no idea how many people were supposed to be there from one brick. It was a huge bummer that no one made an effort to seek me out either knowing my name and that I was new. Definitely not an easy group to get involved with. Really a bummer and pretty disappointing.

If you're looking to work hard as a volunteer, the American Red Cross Food Pantry is the place…read more Especially on days when they're distributing food to clients. I was here on a Wednesday morning. Including the other group of volunteers (that my group didn't know) I'd say there were about 25 of us. So if you're looking for a big group activity, distribution day is your ticket. And for the the 4ish hours that we were there, I think we were busy about 98% of the time.. which for those frequent volunteers out there.. isn't always the case on site. Just a little background, the food pantry is in Roxbury. Easily reachable by T or tons of buses. From their website, it says their clients include "senior citizen immigrants, single parents, families in transition, low-income families, homeless individuals, and those living with HIV." Those that qualify can come in for groceries once a month if they meet the USDA guidelines. They must present an ID for each member of the household. Being curious, I checked the USDA website and interestingly enough, post college and pre - full time job I could have qualified for food assistance. Hmm.. We arrived around 8 AM and the day started off with packing "wet bags". Those coming in for food get a wet bag (veggies/salad/etc.), a dry bag (cereal/pasta/Slim Jims/etc), a can bag (more veggies/tomato sauce/etc), and a protein (that day it was beef and whole turkeys for families of 2 or more). Families with babies may also qualify for baby food but everyone pretty much gets the same thing. Later on, I was in the distributing line. Clients check in to the computer and then they come over with a laminated card stating how many family members they have. So of course, the more family members.. the more bags. It can get a bit hectic and it takes some coordination but you get the hang of it. After 12PM, is lock down. Things get put away and the place gets a good sweeping. It was a very interesting experience. The people walking in didn't seem like they needed "assistance". It was generally a diverse population with mostly minorities but they weren't dressed in a certain way, a few had cars, and one guy was listening to an iPod. One of the coordinators said that people would come in and say that they just lost their job earlier that week or this little bit of groceries is what gets them by. Many come every month without fail. In these difficult times, I can definitely see how a few days of groceries can make all the difference. Especially for a family. The coordinators said they saw a record number of people this Thanksgiving. We actually served 400 people that day (and that doesn't include the 1-9+ family members they were picking up food for). So as you can see, every hour of your time can make a world of difference. You can volunteer by yourself or with a group. OR you can run a food drive at your school or job. See the website for details and contacts.

Wow! I had a GREAT volunteer experience here. I went on a Wednesday morning from 8:30a-12 with…read moreBoston Cares. It's (the Red Cross Food Pantry) one of the most efficiently run, friendly, "helping" organizations I've seen. They get the people in and out QUICKLY, and with bags of NICE, QUALITY foods, not just some old beat up cans and a bag of beans. The Red Cross Staff is wonderful, and they will have something for you to do- be it helping to distribute bags of groceries, assisting with line control, packing bags, etc. They begin ON TIME, and end ON TIME If you need assistance, this is also a GREAT place to come. Not a lot of hassle, just basic stuff to be sure you need services, you're treated with friendliness and dignity, and as mentioned, you don't get crapola, you get GOOD, healthy food. In order to feed as many people as possible, you can only come once a month. 5 STARS! BRAVO, Red Cross!

I've keep saying that they have workers there who go beyond what they have to do. And they don't…read moreget acknowledge for it. They higher up takes the credit and he don't know nothing. How someone could be a higher up like him is not right. I was there one day he don't know me one of his workers were talking to someone on lunch break and he told his worker that he had to do something so end the conversation. I think he needs to respect his workers more. I know the place would fall down without some of the workers there. I just wish they showed more respect to there workers

You are not considered a valuable member of society living here they treat you like you are less of…read morea person! The new kitchen manager with ABSOLUTELY NO experience is a perfect example. She loves to yell at people but she doesn't even know what her actual job is. It's repulsive, that you would treat veterans that way!

Yep, I'm behind Trish's 30 second stop light hip hop stretch. haha.. I was also the one doing the…read morevisualization techniques.. "this isn't rain.. it's ocean spray from a sandy beach somewhere tropical"... this year. People were definitely troopers this year trudging through the downpour. I was rocking the hoodie underneath a rain jacket underneath a poncho. Communication this year was definitely ON (or maybe it always was but it finally reached me). Volunteers received a hand out that had several important numbers of team leaders, police, and who to contact when someone was lost. They did try to keep me and my friend longer again but s'all good. Those looking to be walk marshals (helping people cross the street basically).. definitely work out a plan with your team members. The police were kind of hiding out while it was raining super hard so we had to direct traffic AND walkers. This can be especially tricky/dangerous since the traffic lights don't always correspond with the walk signals (DOH!).

If there's one thing you must do each year, it's to support Project Bread in what they do. Proceeds…read moreare given throughout the Greater Boston area through pantries, food banks, kitchens, school breakfast and lunch programs and more! Annually, they host the Walk for Hunger and has been going strong for 40 years. 20 miles with usually over 40,000 walkers despite weather conditions shows that we as a community can truly come together to make a difference for a great cause. Especially one you can relate with especially in these economic times, hunger is a strong thing. We forget every day that there are those less fortunate than ourselves that don't get to eat or eat poorly. There are those who never thought they'd be asking for assistance, now on the other side of the fence. If you haven't already joined in the fight against hunger. Please consider joining our team. Last year, Yelp and SBS joined forces to bring forth over $8500 raised and made it to one of the top teams. If you can't walk, consider cyber-walk, volunteer, or make a donation. * Although a side note, I only wish Project Bread would stop sending me all the paper mailings between annual reports to various newsletters. I'd much prefer if it was all electronic in my e-mail instead. It's such a waste of paper and postage. Top Organizations at the 2008 Walk # Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts - $47,846.99 # Raytheon - $41,254.67 # Arbella - $35,008.50 # Teradyne - $25,802.00 # Phillips Academy - $16,465.00 # EMC Corporation - $13,368.50 # MIT - $10,230.82 # St Andrew's Wellesley - $10,020.81 # Oak Middle School - $9,905.00 # The Self-Defense Institute (TSDI), Tewksbury - $9,491.00 # Citizens Bank of Massachusetts - $9,389.21 # Temple Israel Boston - $9,159.50 # Harvard University - $9,009.00 # Social Boston Sports & Yelp - $8,616.00 # Boston University - $7,505.14 # BCEC - $7,324.48 # Chestnut Hill School - $7,170.00 # Iron Mountain - $7,001.00 # Surg-Care/Surgi-Tech - $6,359.33 # MetLife Auto & Home - $6,214.00 Save the Date! The next Project Bread Walk for Hunger will be on Sunday, May 3, 2009.

This is an amazing resource for homeless and poor women in Boston. Rosie's is not only a shelter,…read morebut also runs classes, distributes clothing, cooks hot meals, and manages a food pantry. Many women in my community have lived at Rosie's place when faced with unstable or unsafe housing. I have been lucky enough to volunteer at Rosie's food pantry. This is a lean and efficient operation. When I was there, it was managed by an experienced, smart lady named Maria, who had worked there many years. A few days before Thanksgiving, the limited stock was heartbreaking. Though 60 women came through, there were only enough cans of tuna for about half of the women. Rosie's is always in need of donations and volunteers. Is tuna on sale-10 for $10? Buy 10 for Rosie's! Organize a toiletries drive at your place of work! Donate your kids' old books! You will be a hero! This is a great place to volunteer with friends and a great place to do something important that benefits your community.

I give shelter really big fat Zero not good at all toward myself. Since day one i got spoke down…read moretoo and totally disrespected behavior from them against me. The third I been there I was told three days in a row to wake up no sleeping in this place. Actually I was sitting in a room charging my phone I have been ill several times being on 5 different medicines and over three times explain to them that on a lot medication and have disability call narcolepsy in which brain control when go to sleep? So I'm under doctors care. I let plenty of time I have disability but since I don't look like a am a person disability they don't believe you. Other time I got bullied by the staff, men I never seen there working strangers come up me give orders like am a criminal then I address their violated behavior toward they don't like to be disrespectful like they show me some women claim she isa staff person come a word call suspended like she is Actually a judge. So mention I suggest you stay off social media you have across of public harassment. Now I'm planning to file a bullying complaint against this organization with Attorney General/Charities division for cruel and unusual punishment. Also, all this was said for humiliation and verbally. I got no formal notice written. JH my initials