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Volunteer organizing warehouse.
Volunteer reading in a classroom.
Volunteers painting a mural.

Volunteer Opportunities

For more information on available volunteer opportunities, please email us at fundraising@cfsri.org.

Children’s Friend offers multiple volunteer opportunities. Below are our current opportunities but we are always open to suggestions and ideas!

Seasonal Opportunities

  • Mural and Wall Painting: Our family support centers, where kids and families learn and play, need sprucing up. Bring your artistic skills and join us for some painting fun!
  • Field Trip Chaperones/Summer Learning Support: Children in our Summer Learning and Enrichment Program have the opportunity to visit various community locations for fun and learning opportunities outside of the classroom. Volunteers are needed to assist staff and supervise children during bus rides and walks and at field trip locations.
  • Gardening Project Support: Children in our Summer Learning and Enrichment Program are planting and tending to outdoor raised garden beds. Volunteers are needed to help children with planting and maintaining a garden.
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Volunteering at our Events

We hold annual events to raise awareness, support, and funds for Children’s Friend. We often need volunteers to help set up, facilitate, and break down these events. This includes our Spirit of Giving Holiday Drive held in December.

Direct Contact with Our Children

Volunteers who have personal contact with children may, in some cases, be required to complete security and background checks, including fingerprinting, BCI, CANTS, and multi-state sex offender background checks. It may take several weeks to obtain all the necessary clearances from State and Federal agencies.

  • Classrooms: Volunteers help the staff in our classrooms. Tasks may include playing with the children, reading to the children, helping on the playground, helping during lunch and snack time, helping during nap time, playing games, and any other classroom activities.
  • Activities: Volunteers plan age-appropriate activities to do with the children in our programs. Examples include reading a book and doing a related activity, having a scavenger hunt, making cookies, arts & crafts, and educational activities.

Host a Donation Drive

Ask your friends, family, and co-workers to donate items that are always needed by our most vulnerable children and families. We can provide a collection box for you (please note that only new, unused items will be accepted).

  • Backpacks and School Supplies: Many of our Head Start & Child Care children will be moving on to kindergarten next year, and we want to send them with the tools they’ll need to succeed! We are looking for new and lightly used backpacks and school supplies.
  • Diapers, Pull-Ups, and Formula: These three items are a necessity for our young ones, and they go through them quickly. Our families with young children are always in need of diapers, pull-ups, and baby formula. All formula must be sealed, and all diapers and pull-ups must be packaged.
  • Books: What child can’t benefit from reading? Our families are constantly looking for educational books and reading materials. We accept lightly used books and reading materials. Bilingual materials are encouraged!
  • Clothing and Household Items: Clothing and household items are needed by families all the time! We will only accept new and lightly used donations.

Spirit of Giving Holiday Drive

Anyone can sponsor a family for our annual Holiday Drive. Registration begins on November 1.  Year-round volunteers assist us in the warehouse to organize, stock, and distribute items for the Holiday Drive.