How Much Time Do You Have to Volunteer?

People volunteer in many different ways and for different lengths of time. Whether you volunteer a few hours a month, once a year, or volunteer on an ongoing basis, whatever time you give will be useful and appreciated.

Consider these options:

Help with One-time Events
Volunteer to help with a project requiring many helpers on one particular day such as a holiday function, a fund-raiser or a mass training event. You can be of real help while getting a sense of how our organization works, who else volunteers and how you fit in. Most one-time assignments involve groups of volunteers, a club, school or church group. You can volunteer with your group to test the waters and then follow up on your own, or better yet, bring a friend!

Work on Short-term Assignments
Chapters often need someone to tackle a specific project that, with a little extra attention, are completed in a designated timeframe. "Short-term" therefore can vary from a few full days to several hours a month for a few months. Again, the possibilities are limitless: translating materials into another language, updating a booklet or manual, installing or programming computers, Web site work, teaching a skill to others, donating your professional expertise as a consultant on some project.

Volunteering on Vacation
Did you ever consider volunteering for the Red Cross during your vacation? It's the perfect way to make a difference during your time off. Here are just a few American Red Cross disaster volunteers who have donated their vacation time to helping others.

• Fred, a biology professor at a university in Arkansas, has been a disaster volunteer at his local Red Cross chapter for 13 years. During his summer breaks, he spends his time looking for buildings in the area that could be used as shelter sites during a disaster. Once an appropriate location has been found, Fred secures the facility for shelter use with the proper authorities. To date, he has secured 22 shelter agreements and has three more in the works.
• Allen, a disaster volunteer at a Red Cross chapter in Texas, has used his personal vacation time to provide mental health care to the victims of tornadoes in Texas and Arkansas.

Register Your Talents with a Skill Bank
A variation on the short-term assignment is the skill bank. You register the skill you are willing to offer. Then, working with the other Red Cross volunteers, you are contacted when you are needed. Often these volunteers are active in some capacity already, but have a special skill that may be needed only occasionally. Do you speak another language? Would you be willing to be on-call to translate in an emergency? Are you a marketing whiz, computer programmer, a top sales person or motivational speaker? Would you be willing to teach/speak to a group of volunteers/staff? Each project you accept is on a short-term basis, and after it is completed your name remains in the skills bank.

Once You Are Ready for Ongoing Commitments
Once you know that you want to volunteer in a substantial way, you can offer your time on a regular schedule, weekly or monthly, for a specific length of time, renewing or changing as you progress in your Red Cross volunteer career. Some chapters may ask you to commit for at least a year. This allows you to volunteer for lengthier assignments and for both you and the Red Cross chapter to fully benefit from any training provided by the Red Cross. It is also required of board members, some committee memberships and to meet fundraising goals.

Being On-Call
Once you have become involved with us as a volunteer, taken all the required classes and know how to do the work required by your chosen volunteer assignment, you might be able to achieve maximum flexibility by being "on call." You can pick and choose your teaching assignments, work a particular special event, substitute for other volunteers, help in an emergency or handle other unexpected needs.

Contact a local American Red Cross unit today to determine the best way to match your unique talents and interests with providing services in your community.