Best Places to Volunteer Near Newark, DE

Those of us who love our community here in Newark, Delaware, want to know how we can give back, improve the lives of those around us, and look after the town. It turns out that there are plenty of volunteer and charity organizations doing incredible work in town. Best of all, they’re almost always looking for volunteers to lend an extra hand. If you want to give back, no matter where your interests lie — saving the environment,  helping animals, working with children, assisting people, or something else — call up one of these organizations and get started today.

Bring Your Pet to PAWS for People

Our New Rescue, Boo Lefou by DaPuglet is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0

If you have a friendly pet and a passion for helping people during difficult times, you’ll find much to love about PAWS for People. This organization specializes in helping children, the elderly, and people with disabilities by providing visits from loving, friendly pets to lift their spirits and help heal them.

The organization is entirely made up of volunteers, and they’re always looking for new people (and their pets) to join. Right now, there are approximately 145 teams of pet owners and pets in the Newark area. You can expect to visit hospitals, hospices, assisted living facilities, and chemical dependency programs.

The organization also runs a PAWS for Reading program for volunteers who like to work with children. This innovative program focuses on helping children who struggle to read by allowing them to read to animals, which places much less pressure on them. If you participate, you’ll visit local libraries and schools with your pets and let schoolchildren read to them.

Help VITAS Healthcare of Delaware

People in hospice care are often in dire need of extra care and companionship. This is where VITAS Healthcare of Delaware comes in, employing volunteers to visit patients and help them and their families through the process of hospice care. You don’t need a background in healthcare to volunteer, as the care volunteers provide is nonmedical.

VITAS puts its volunteers through a brief training program to help them understand the unique needs and problems that arise in the hospice environment. In addition to helping fulfill patient requests and spending time with individuals in hospice care, VITAS volunteers often advocate for patients and their families so they receive the best care and treatment possible.

Support the Parks and Recreation Department

Newark residents who love the outdoors and the city’s beautiful local parks will want to check out the many volunteer opportunities available with the Parks and Recreation Department. Opportunities in the parks are seasonal, as the department needs help with various events (such as egg hunts and turkey trots) on important annual holidays, as well as the several summer camps it helps run.

If you want to help maintain the parks, volunteer to do trail maintenance, trash clean up, and maintenance of playgrounds and footbridges. Or if you prefer working with children, you can volunteer as a youth coach from September to June and help with local basketball and soccer games. Newark residents who aren’t that familiar with sports can still help out with kids’ programs during the school year by assisting park staff with elementary school students and helping them do arts and crafts or homework.

Work With Dogs at LnF Dog Rescue

If you’re the kind of person who watches advertisements for dog shelters and can’t help but tear up, perhaps LnF Dog Rescue  is the volunteer organization for you. Even if you aren’t in a position to personally give a pup a home, you can help them find a family for life.

This organization rescues dogs, finds foster homes for them, and makes sure they’re spayed or neutered before being adopted out to their forever homes. In this way, LnF Dog Rescue ensures there’ll be fewer stray dogs needing a home in the future. Dog lovers can help plenty of Newark pups by signing up to foster dogs, volunteering their time at the dog rescue itself, or simply helping dogs complete basic training and engaging in playtime with them. That’s right — you can volunteer to play with pups.

Help Out at Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research

Wildlife in the Newark area can suffer as a result of the encroachment of people and communities on natural habitats in the area. Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research  seeks to help the native birds of Delaware by rehabilitating those it finds sick, injured, or orphaned. Birds in such conditions would usually die in the wild, but with Tri-State, they have a great chance of healing fully and being released to live out the rest of their lives in nature.

Work the Phones at YWCA Delaware

Those who are passionate about understanding and advocating for victims should think about joining YWCA Delaware, a 24/7 sexual assault response center that provides a hotline for victims of assault and advocates to help them through their journey to healing and justice.

Empathetic Newark residents can work the center’s hotlines, fielding calls from victims seeking help, compassion, and understanding. All new volunteers must agree to a criminal background check and complete a 50-hour training program the center provides for free. This is one of the few volunteer opportunities that you can do right from your home, as long as you have a computer and secure internet connection.

If you’ve been looking for a way to help your community, whether with children, wildlife, victims, the elderly, or pet rescue, Newark organizations have plenty of volunteer opportunities available for those with the time and desire to give back. Call up any of the organizations on our list to help, and if there’s a volunteer opportunity we missed, contact us at Hertrich Nissan of Newark and let us know.