·  Do some good.  As a volunteer, you have the opportunity to make a difference—change lives, support a cause, or improve your community.
·  Test-drive career options.  If you think you want to go into medicine, teaching, or even large animal husbandry, spend volunteer hours in a clinic, a school or on a farm. Volunteering opens new vistas and provides an opportunity to explore different career paths.
·  Polish job-readiness skills.  Being dependable, on time, and responsible will not only make you a great volunteer but also prepare you for entering the world of work. In addition, you can develop communication, organization, and invaluable “people” skills, all of which are valued by employers.
·  Expand your network.  Volunteering is a great way to make new friends and build solid connections to businesses, schools, or other community-based organizations. These are the kinds of relationships that tend to grow and blossom, particularly if you find yourself working in a team or supporting a cause. A byproduct of the experience can be a strong personal recommendation for college or a future job.
·  Challenge your comfort zone.  If life as a high school student has become a little too boring and predictable, try volunteering in a totally unfamiliar part of your community or serving a population with which you don’t ordinarily come into contact. Expose yourself to new ideas, challenges and situations that will help you grow as a person.
·  Hone leadership skills.  As a volunteer, you may be presented with opportunities to build supervisory, management, or decision-making skills as a team leader or project organizer. These are talents that colleges and future employers value highly.
·  Upgrade college portfolio.  Yes, colleges want to see that you’ve done something more with your summer than Face booking. To volunteer is to give strong evidence of character, commitment, and motivation—all of which are plusses in the college admissions process.
·  Discover an essay topic.  The best college essays flow out of personal experience. In fact, essay questions often ask about significant achievements, events, people, or encounters—all of which may be found in the act of volunteering.
·  Learn something.  You learn by doing. And if you’re lucky, you may even be offered specific skill training, which you can take with you long after the event or project is completed.
·  Do some good.  This cannot be overstated.

If you live in a city of any size, then there is at least one homeless shelter that helps homeless people with meals, beds and other services. Most homeless shelters welcome volunteers and have a variety of programs through which you can get involved. You might help prepare or distribute meals, work behind the scenes in the business office, help organize a food drive to stock the pantry, etc. You can learn more about the problem of homelessness and ways you can help by looking at this site. Look in the phone book for a local homeless shelter if you are interested.

Food banks often work with homeless shelters, but they also serve poor people living in the community (especially around the holidays). Food banks collect food, manage their inventory and distribute food to those in need. Any food bank will offer similar opportunities in your area. Look in the phone book for a local food bank if you are interested.

If you would like something to do in your spare time at home, one innovative way to volunteer is to get involved in The Guideposts Sweater Project, sponsored by Guideposts magazine. People around the country knit sweaters that are then sent to needy children around the world. This article gives you a description of the project and a pattern for the sweaters. Don’t know how to knit? Not a problem, because the article also links to sites that teach you how!

There are Ronald McDonald Houses around the country – almost every major city has one. The idea behind all Ronald McDonald Houses is very important. When a child is seriously ill, the child is frequently treated for long periods of time at a hospital or university medical center. Many families have to travel long distances to get to the hospital, and “where to stay” becomes a problem. Staying at a hotel becomes extremely expensive, and a hotel can be a lonely and sterile place. Ronald McDonald Houses provide a low-cost “home-away-from-home” for parents and children to stay during treatment. Volunteers help prepare meals, talk to families, take care of the house and so on. The programs offered at the Arizona Ronald McDonald House are typical, and you can read about volunteer opportunities there. Then call the Ronald McDonald House in your area to find out more.

As described on the web site for Special Olympics International, “Special Olympics is an international program of year-round sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with mental retardation.” The site also describes a wide variety of volunteer activities, including sports training, fund raising, administrative help, competition planning and staffing, etc. Look in the phone book for a local office or search the Special Olympics Web Site for more information.

Habitat for Humanities builds and gives houses to poor people in local communities. Volunteers not only help others, but can learn a great deal about building houses by getting involved. See the Habitat for Humanities web site for more information. Call the national office or your local office for information about volunteer programs in your area.

Many state parks offer volunteer programs, and in these programs you can try anything from educational programs to trail construction and maintenance. This site for the Arizona State Park system shows some of the possibilities available. Contact a state park near you and see what options are available if you are interested.

Most large cities offer a wide range of volunteer opportunities. Look in the phone book and call around to see what might be available where you live.