StandUp For Kids – Orange County
If helping your community wasn’t part of your New Year’s resolution, or it was and you just haven’t found the time or the inspiration to make it happen yet – we’ve got some ideas for you. All of our volunteers have unique skills that make a huge difference for our organization and the young people we support. Financial donations are always appreciated, and fully utilized to help get people off the street and on their way to self-sufficiency, but there are lots of other ways you can get involved too.
Here are some ideas we have for how you can get involved in our many programs, but we’re always open for your creative suggestions too!
- Cook a meal – Youth in our program come to weekly meetings to receive support, mentoring, and a hot meal. We are always looking for people willing to cook or purchase a meal for one of our weekly meetings.
- Become a mentor – Getting kids off the street is only the first part of our mission. After that, we spend time with them each week to work through creating a resume, finding a job, building a budget, signing up for government programs as applicable, and just offering general support as they prepare for the future.
- Teach a skill – Help a group of high school-aged aspiring entrepreneurs or young adults looking for help getting started in a new career by providing your expertise through a presentation or hands-on activity with the group.
- Help plan an event – Join our 2019 Gala planning committee to help us put on our biggest fundraising event of the year. Whether you’d rather help with planning before the event, or working on site at the event – we have lots of opportunities to get involved.
- Provide marketing support – Since we’re a mostly volunteer-run organization, our team is stretched pretty thin. If you’re passionate about marketing, we’d love to have your help getting the word out and building campaigns.
- Street outreach – Help us reach out to the community to offer support. We have programs through the local schools and teams that hit the streets to let people know we can help if they’re ready.
- Donate items – From time to time we could use things like furniture, clothes, socks, blankets, sleeping bags, shampoo, soap, and other necessities.
- Corporate sponsorship – Does your company match donations? Do you have entry-level job openings or opportunities for internships or training programs? Tell your company about us and how they can get involved.
- Shop at Amazon – Shop online using AmazonSmile and choose StandUp For Kids as the recipient of Amazon’s donation in your honor.
- Spread the word – If you know people or companies who would be willing to donate or support our organization in other ways, please help us get in touch! A Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn post goes a long way too.
If you don’t have a lot of spare time, of course a good old fashioned donation goes a long way too! Challenge yourself to make a difference by offering your unique skills and resources to help support us in our mission of ending youth homelessness. Your actions will make a big impact on your community, but they’ll also make a big impact on your life. The joy that comes from helping others is powerful.
Which of these 10 activities can you commit to? Contact us and let us know what you’d like to do to help.