So, I had my first volunteer gig with Chicago Cares today. Chicago Cares is a volunteer organization that provides individuals and businesses with the opportunity to volunteer and improve the community. I saw an ad for them a while ago while riding the bus and finally decided to try it out.
When you first sign up at their website (http://www.chicagocares.org), you go through a short online orientation. After that you have access to their calendar which details the projects available. The issue areas are wide ranging, from adult education, to environment and rehab, to hunger and so on. You pick the project you want to work on and contact the project leader who will let you know if they still need people for their team.
I volunteered for one of the "Just For Starters" projects, which are for newbies. In this case, the Senior Breakfast Club. It was from 9 to 12 this morning and involved cooking and serving breakfast to seniors at a Chicago Housing Authority assisted living building. After cooking, serving and cleaning up, we ran a couple of bingo games with prizes.
All in all, it was fun, and something I'd definitely like to do again. I'd like to try some other issue areas as well. I know there are several gardening opportunities in the environment issue area and I'm sure my family would get a big kick out of the idea of me gardening :)
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