Metropolitan Region
Volunteer Opportunities
Children’s Home + Aid’s Metropolitan Region serves thousands of children through programs including Community Schools, Early Childhood Care and Education, Foster Care and Adoptions and Residential Treatment. A variety of volunteer opportunities are available from weekly to once a month to a one-time event or activity. Group volunteer projects are available and are great for corporate team building events. Volunteers are placed in positions based on interest, need, skills, location and availability. All volunteers receive training and ongoing support from Children’s Home + Aid staff. In order to ensure the safety of our clients and staff, all regularly scheduled volunteers participate in a screening process including an in-person interview, health screen & TB test and fingerprinting background check.
Individual Volunteer Opportunities
Foster Friend: Build a relationship with a child in need of a positive adult role model. Provide support and fun to a child who closely matches your interests, background, and personality. Mentoring can include tutoring, career exploration, life skills development, cultural or entertainment events. The ultimate goal is to enhance the child’s physical, intellectual and social growth. Volunteers are asked to commit to at least 4-10 hours per month for nine months. For more information, please click here.
Adult Connections Volunteer: Children’s Home + Aid’s Adult Connections program helps youth aging out of foster care find stable housing, education, employment and the knowledge and skills necessary to access healthcare and other resources once they reach adulthood. The Adult Connections program allows volunteers to provide foster youth with social and emotional support during an important period of their lives. By volunteering to mentor a foster child between the ages of 18 - 20, you will assist youth who are preparing to live on their own. The Adult Connections program seeks caring, committed adults (over age 25) who are looking for a unique long term but flexible mentoring opportunity, where in-person contact is not always necessary. For more information, please click here.
Summer Camp Leaders: Provide assistance at the Rice Child + Family Center’s annual summer camp. Volunteers will lead the youth in weekly art day and sports day activities from mid-July through the end of August.
Homework Helper: Assist youth to lay a foundation for academic success by providing assistance to a child in need of academic assistance. Homework Helpers spend one hour per week with a child in Foster Care, Residential Treatment or Community Schools on a set day, depending on the availability of the volunteer. Homework Helpers are asked to make a 3-month volunteer commitment.
Classroom Helper: Enhance the children’s educational services by providing support and assistance to the classroom teachers in our Community Schools or Early Childhood Care + Education Centers. We also have opportunities for “Cuddlers” in the infant rooms. Baby Cuddlers provide an extra set of helping hands in the infant classrooms, rocking infants and reading stories.
Fitness Friend: Lead a group of youth in physical fitness activities including athletics, dance, yoga or group exercise.
Foster Care Excellence Academy Helper: Volunteers provide hands-on assistance during the after school program, homework help and build positive relationships with the foster youth.
Enrichment Leader: Plan and lead a kids group at the after-school programs. Groups can include athletics, cooking, science projects, art, etc. This volunteer opportunity can be completed as an individual or small group.
Life Skills Guide: Do you like to cook, know a lot about money or have secrets to acing a job interview? Share what you know – pass your knowledge on to our children and families in need of learning skills for a successful future.
Other Opportunities: Piano teacher at the Rice Child + Family Center, Spanish Tutor at the Rice Child + Family Center, Administrative Support at 100 N. Western Avenue in Chicago.
Register Today
To register as a volunteer with Children’s Home + Aid in the Metropolitan Region and to see what volunteer opportunities are available, please click New Volunteer Registration/Login. If you are a returning volunteer, please contact your volunteer coordinator directly.
Group Volunteer Opportunities
Adopt-a-Visiting Room: Help freshen up our centers’ visiting rooms and therapy rooms by cleaning / replacing toys and painting the walls as needed. This is a great group volunteer opportunity that makes an immediate impact on the children and families we serve. Volunteers can also host a toy drive to replenish the visiting rooms.
Activities with Children: Volunteers lead children in activities including arts and crafts, sports, baking or reading stories.
Host a Donation Drive: Host a donation drive for items including back-to-school supplies, new winter coats, toiletries, books, holiday gifts, or toys to replenish the visiting rooms. Click here to see our programs’ wishlists.
Brightening Our Centers: Grab a group of your friends or colleagues and help brighten our facilities with a fresh coat of paint or landscaping.
Team Building Activities: Donate items on our agency’s “wish list” and then assemble the items as a group. Ideas include bicycles for youth in foster care, dollhouses for our therapy rooms and rocking chairs for our family visiting rooms.
Holiday Volunteering: Volunteer to host a holiday gift drive, wrap holiday gifts, provide assistance at Snug Hugs for Kid Clothing Drive and sort books at the Barnes and Noble book drive.
Please contact Vera Junge, Metropolitan Region volunteer coordinator, at vjunge@childrenshomeandaid.org, to learn more about scheduling a group volunteer project at Children’s Home + Aid.
Why Volunteer at Children's Home + Aid?
“I volunteer because there was a need for extra help in the early childhood classrooms. I also wanted to interact with infants, now that my own children are grown up. This was a perfect fit for both me and the children.” Barb Johnson, Baby Cuddler Volunteer
“At a young age many of the children at Rice have gone through so much, I was just happy I could help in any way possible. I am now an advocate for foster children. I think they can sometimes be a forgotten and misunderstood population, but they are kids just like any other.” Juliet Gutierrez, Rice Child + Family Center Volunteer
“I enjoy the ability to offer intellectual encouragement to a young man who is just beginning to discover the wider world outside his own, and what his place could be in it. I enjoy the interaction with the foster kids and the opportunity to watch them grow.” Gordon Welles, Foster Friend at the Excellence Academy
Volunteers in Action
Slideshow-Volunteers Lending a Hand
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