Volunteer Options in the Framingham Area

Active Web Sites: Posting short and long-term volunteer opportunities

Boston Cares: www.bostoncares.org

Boston Channel: www.bostonchannel.com

Craigslist: http://boston.craigslist.org/vol/

Connect and Serve: www.mass.gov/connectandserve

Volunteer Solutions: www.volunteersolutions.org

A Place to Turn: Wednesday evenings helping sort clothes and food
99 Hartford Street, Natick
Eileen Bogle 508 655-8868

Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) www.outdoors.org

Birthday Wishes: www.birthdaywishes.org. They provide birthday parties for homeless children in and around the Boston area. You can do anything from making a cake to stuffing goody bags to helping out the day of the party. Click on "volunteer" to find out more.

Blue Hills Observatory: www.bluehill.org They have many interesting, inexpensive events including the guided tours below. They also have volunteer opportunities. It is a one- mile hike on a trail up to the observatory. Weekend Observatory Guided Tours: Time: 11 AM - 4 PM Date: Saturday and Sunday, February - November Location: Blue Hill Observatory - Phone 617-696-0562

Boomerang's Thrift Shop in Jamaica Plain. The Thrift Shop is a great place and very teen- friendly. It benefits the Aids Action Committee (www.aac.org). The volunteer duties include sorting and hanging donated clothes, and volunteers get a 30% discount! Located at 716 Centre St. in Jamaica Plain. Phone 617 524-5120 and ask for Jasmine.

Boston's Walk for Diabetes
http://walk.diabetes.org

Boys and Girls Clubs of MetroWest
Middle School after school program
508 485-4912

Bread and Jams: www.breadandjams.org The staff is almost entirely composed of volunteers. These driven and well-appreciated men and women are volunteers with Bread & Jams in many different ways. If you would like to become a volunteer please come by or call. Help is always needed and always appreciated. Here are just some of the ways in which you may help us through volunteering: *Data Entry *Website - collecting information Bread & Jams, 1151 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 Ph. 617-497-9200

Callahan Senior Center in downtown Framingham
Contact: David 508-620-2315.

Charles River Canoe & Kayak: http://www.ski-paddle.com/cano/canoe.htm 2401 Commonwealth Avenue. Newton Massachusetts 02466 Phone (617) 965-5110 Fax (617) 965-7696 info@ski-paddle.com Between December 1 and March 15 they can be reached at: Weston Ski Track Box 426 200 Park Road Weston MA 02493 Phone (781) 891-6575 Fax (617) 965-7696

Greater Boston Food Bank Take an evening to sort groceries and salvage food at the Greater Boston Food Bank. This energetic work is a fun way to make a tangible contribution to hunger relief efforts Sorting runs from 5:15 -8:30 pm at the Food Bank - located in the Newmarket Business District between the South End and Roxbury. Parking is available. Sorting generally ends at 8:00pm. Phone Steven Brady at 617-427-5200. www.gbfb.org.

Greyhound Friends
Call Stoddard Melhado, Volunteer Coordinator 978-486-9185 The kennel is located on Saddle Hill Road in Hopkinton http://www.greyhound.org/ Very busy, open kennel; dogs go out five times a day to go to the bathroom and during that time they need help "freshening up" the crates (changing the water, fluffing the pillows or blankets, cleaning the crates); they also need help doing laundry, washing dog dishes, and sweeping and mopping the floors. Depending on the time of day, there may be an opportunity to walk and groom the dogs.

Holliston Manor Nursing Home: Gail: 508-429-4566 or gaillacy@comcast.net One pair made arrangements to go and do nails. Gail was very receptive; the pair very much enjoyed helping and felt appreciated. Gail asks that you give her advance notice if you'd like to come in - she would want to put it on the calendar for everyone to see!

Memorial House:
Memorial House a supportive housing option for elders aged 60 years and older. Supportive Housing at Memorial House provides residents with all the comforts and independence of living alone with the care and security of a personal care attendant 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Ideally, each month, a calendar is created for the residents of various activities and events. At times, scheduling events is difficult due to the limited and restricted budget the state provides us. Having volunteers come in and participating in activities with residents is always welcome. It gets the residents out of their apartments and encourages them to socialize. Many of the residents are not given the opportunity to visit with their family as frequently as they would like and so visits from young people are heartfelt and appreciated. Contact: Marilyn Goldberg, Supportive Housing Coordinator Memorial House, 317 Hollis St, Framingham, MA 01701 (508) 820-0337

Metrowest Harvest
Farm Community Harvest project in North Grafton
Contact: Jean 508-788-3663. Good for the warmer weather.

MetroWest Hospitals - formerly Framingham Union (in Framingham) and Leonard Morse (in Natick). Volunteers must fill out applications in advance and are more likely to be needed during the week than on weekends. Also requires TB and other tests. This is a good option only if student has special interest in a medical career and both are willing to volunteer for more than one short stint. Contact Maura Peterson for more information: Framingham: 508 383-1605 or Natick: 508 650-7441.

Puppet Showplace Theatre 32 Station Street, Brookline, MA 02445 boxoffice@puppetshowplace.org They are looking for friendly volunteers to be ushers and for special events. They are located across the street from the Brookline Village T stop on the Green Line. Students interested in a creative arts venue or working with children would enjoy this option. Call 617-731-6400 and ask for Adam Courville.

Salvation Army, Framingham. Need help serving dinner 5:30-7:30pm The contact at Salvation Army is Jim Bauchman, 508-308-9545 (mobile) or 508-875-3341 (ext. 41). One of our mentors spoke to him, and he said he is in most need of help on Sunday nights, so that would be a good night for pairs to volunteer. They can give him a call at the number above to let him know they are coming, and he said it's fine to call him on the weekend. Set-up and cooking begins at 5:30 p.m. To volunteer, you must make arrangements in advance. This can be an eye-opening volunteer experience for mentees.

Soldiers' Angels: http://www.soldiersangels.com/ - click on "donate." Opportunity to make up care packages for soldiers serving in Iraq. There is some cost to this as care packages generally contain some small toiletry items as well as a greeting card and perhaps food items. Here are comments from a mentoring pair who did this activity: About the soldier program -it's great... We basically went onto http://soldiersangels.org/ and we provide our (my) information. You have be over 18 and they run some sort of background check.... when its all set they contact you either via email or phone. Then you are assigned a mentor who answers any questions you may have. My student and I wrote and mentioned what Mazie is, etc. and just introduced ourselves...and we went from there.

Special Olympic Track Training, Newton. Phone Mark at 617-796-1527. Come run or walk with athletes with disabilities on Tuesday nights at Newton North High School. We usually have between 40-50 athletes per night and could not run the program without dedicated volunteers. You are welcome to come on a one time or ongoing basis. We are at Newton North on Tuesday from 7pm - 8pm. Volunteers are giving background and contact information on the program the first night they volunteer. Sponsored by: Newton Special Athletes. Address: 70 Crescent Street, Newton, MA 02466 Directions: Just off Commonwealth Ave. in the Auburndale area of Newton. Programs at Community centers and schools throughout Newton. Web Site: http://www.newtonspecialathletes.com

Spin: Stray Pets in Need Marie Antobenedetto, Shelter Manager 781 235-1218 This group too requires a lot of up front investment to get started, including an application. So, this is not good for a one-time venture, but if your student has a strong interest in animals and you want to invest for the longer term, this is a good option.

Sunrise Assisted Living Contact: Ms. Susan Hobart: 508-652-6300 She is most easily reached by email: Wayland.AVC@sunriseseniorliving.com This is an assisted living facility for seniors. Two pairs have volunteered here so far and both very highly recommend this activity! Various days/hours available. Phone Ms. Hobart for more information. See mentor endorsement for this activity below. Mentor endorsement for volunteering at Sunrise: "I have to tell you what a wonderful experience it was volunteering at Sunrise in Wayland. Ingrid and I spent time in the memory impaired unit. It is a lovely environment and the residents seemed very pleased that we were there (they especially liked Ingrid). We arrived after lunch and did activities such as: reviewing flashcards of movie stars from the past, discussing flashcards of familiar objects, completing proverbs and popular sayings. After activities we spent time outside with a number of residents in their garden area. One of the residents plays the harp and she let us come into her room for a demonstration. We felt useful, had fun, met some very kind and interesting people, and certainly learned from our experience. I would highly recommend this activity to other Mazie volunteers."

The Center for Arts in Natick (TCAN), 14 Summer Street, Natick, MA 01760 508-647-0097 http://www.natickarts.org Contact: Marcia Showstead, ext. 209 Tasks which need to be done: Ushers, Concessions, Ticketing

Volunteer Solutions posts one-time volunteer needs as well as longer-term needs (for example, our program is listed there). It is only available as a web site: www.volunteersolutions.org