As parents and caregivers struggle to find extracurricular activities for their child(ren) in the era of the pandemic, our team has collectively formulated a list of volunteer activities, in-person and virtual, that your child (and you!) can participate in:
- Big White Wall: an anonymous online peer-to-peer support community for your mental health
- Kids Help Phone: an online platform for kids, teens and young adults to speak with a trained volunteer for support
- Certified Listeners: an anonymous online peer-to-peer support community for your mental health
- 7 Cups: an anonymous online peer-to-peer support community for your mental health
- Crisis Line: an online support service that trains volunteers to provide counselling and support those in need
- Good2Talk: an online platform that provides confidential support for post-secondary students in Ontario
- Science Buddies: volunteer to help increase K-12 science literacy and foster enthusiasm for science and science fair projects
- Reading Partners: Help ensure expert literary resources reach families and kids in a time of historic need.
- Open Lab: a grocery delievery and household essentials serive for the vulnerable population
- Sideline: online service that supports mothers during high-risk pregnancy
- Letters of love: write a letter to an elder
- Snail Mail: write letters to
- Sick Child – Post Pals
- Prison Inmate – Write a Prisoner
- Write to children in hospital – Cards for Hospitalized Kids
- Nursing home resident – Love for The Elderly
- Homeless person – Silver Lake Love
- Talk 2 Nice: check-in service specializing in the care of elders and disabled community members
- Elderdog: volunteer to maintain relationships between older people and their dogs
- Society of Sharing: volunteer with isolated, lonely and frail seniors and adults with physical disabilities
- The Trevor Project: an online support service for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ+) youth
- Alone: online service provides practical support and coordinates services for and with older people to address challenges and to find solutions
- PenPals: send a letter to the elderly
- Adopt a Grandparent: connect young people with elderly who may not have grandparents/grandchildren of their own, with the aim of creating long-lasting intergenerational friendships
- Virtual Volunteering
- Telephone Reassurance Volunteering: use your phone to connect with an isolated senior or adult with a disability and bring some light to their day!
- Public Relations Specialist Volunteer: help support communications efforts and contribute to the development of a media relations, influencer engagement and social communications strategy
- Writer: assist with writing marketing and communications documents (e.g., newsletters, request letters, website content, etc.,)
- Volunteer Social Media Specialist: join an organization’s marketing team to produce and implement social media strategies (e.g., manage, maintain and grow an organization’s social media presence on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook)
- Online Book Buddies: help a child read a book via Skype, Zoom, FB video messenger, or Facetime
- Cultivate Volunteering:
- Carry-Out Caravan: provide seniors with reliable access to groceries and valuable conversation and connection
- VetsGo: serve veterans and their family members with safe and reliable rides to their medical appointments and with valuable conversation and friendship
- Fix-It: provide seniors with simple home repairs, and with friendly interactions and conversation
- SnowBusters: provide seniors with reliable snow and ice shoveling and with friendly interactions and conversation
- YardBusters: seniors with basic yard clean up and with friendly interactions and conversation.
- Retired Senior Volunteer Program: matches prospective volunteers ages 55+ with meaningful opportunities in their communities