December is a month for festive spirits and gathering with friends and family. It's also National Giving Month! National Giving Month started as a campaign to encourage people to give to their favorite charities and organizations through their time or finances. It also celebrates all the volunteers, donors, and organizers who invest their time in the causes they care most about.
In fact, seniors can help celebrate National Giving Month and support their favorite charitable organizations in Englewood, Littleton, Denver, and Arapahoe County without leaving home. Here's how:
1. Be a virtual volunteer
Seniors can become virtual volunteers using a webcam on their computer or tablet. Many organizations now depend on virtual volunteers for jobs such as:
- Helping non-native English speakers hone their language skills
- Performing mock interviews with job seekers
- Assisting low-vision and blind individuals
Volunteer opportunity: Be My Eyes connects blind and low-sighted people with volunteers. Seniors can assist with tasks such as checking food labels, picking out clothes, or navigating unfamiliar areas through video chat. What's more, it's all done through an app, so it's easy to start volunteering immediately. Seniors can set their availability, too, making it easy to do as much or as little volunteering as they want.
2. Take phone calls from home
Many charities need volunteers to man their hotlines, which seniors can do from home using their landline or cell phone. Many organizations are also actively using text exchanges to support those needing help. Seniors might take calls or answer texts messages to:
- Support those with mental health issues, or someone experiencing a non-emergency crisis
- Provide companionship over the phone to those who are house-bound or lonely
- Solicit and process donations to the organization
Volunteer opportunity: Crisis Text Line provides text-based support to people experiencing a crisis. Volunteers need to undergo 30 hours of training, then answer texts to help people stay calm, find solutions, and create safety plans.
3. Help with research or answering questions
Sometimes charities also need help with the day-to-day tasks involved in their mission. Senior volunteers can do much of this at home, which is excellent if they don't enjoy being on camera or don't enjoy talking to others. Seniors might need basic computer skills for some of these tasks, but most organizations are happy to provide training. At-home duties might include:
- Data input for donor information or to help build a database of information
- Emailing responses to inquiries about the organization
- Providing professional experience to a non-profit that needs it, such as in accounting, event planning, as well as human resources
Volunteer opportunity: The Smithsonian Institute actively recruits virtual volunteers to help them make their catalog more accessible to people around the world. Volunteers transcribe historical documents, field data from scientists, as well as audio interviews to help digitize the museum's collections.
Senior Helpers of Littleton, Highlands Ranch, Centennial, and Englewood are proud to support seniors who volunteer their time, money, and energy to the organizations near and dear to their hearts. If you are a senior who needs extra support at home, schedule a consultation with our team. We'd love to meet with you so you can learn more about our in-home care services that can help you age in place and continue to do the volunteering you love.