The mission
of Volunteer Houston is to develop, support and promote
volunteerism and its rewards for individuals and organizations in
the community. Volunteer Houston serves the greater Houston
metropolitan area. Volunteer Bay Area is a satellite office of Volunteer Houston,
and serves the greater NASA/Clear Lake metropolitan area.
Created in 1974, Volunteer Houston promotes its mission through a
unique referral service connecting volunteers with the city's 700
non-profits ranging from disaster relief to children's services
and the arts. Volunteer Houston also has many of its own programs
serving youth, families and other agencies. A Visit from Saint Nicholas benefits disadvantaged children and
provides financial support for programs and services of Volunteer
Houston and Volunteer Bay Area.
Our
Programs and Services
Connect Houston
Connect Houston, our core program, maintains a database
of over 2000 assignments needing volunteers, some on an ongoing
basis, others in connection with periodic special events. The
volunteer opportunities listed in our web pages are the most
recent community needs contained in Connect Houston . If
you don't see a volunteering opportunity that matches your skills
or location preference, give us a call at (713) 965-0031 and our Connect
Houston will find one for you with any of the more than 660
nonprofit agencies and institutions.
Criminal Background
Screening
This service trains agencies to screen volunteers working with
vulnerable populations. It aids organizations in minimizing the
risks inherent when engaging unknown volunteers to work primarily
with children. During 1996 - 1997, Criminal Background
Screening Service trained 42 organizations to run their own
volunteer screening.
For more
information about this service call Patricia Cabrera
at (713) 964-0226.
ExxonMobil Community Summer Jobs
Program
ExxonMobil and Volunteer Houston are pleased to announce the
second Community Summer Jobs Program (CSJP).
Through CSJP, ExxonMobil will provide $2000 grants to
approximately 25 local non-profit agencies to hire summer college
interns to assist in providing essential services to the
community. The eight-week program would provide students with
hands-on experience and introduce them to nonprofit career
opportunities. The agencies will receive enthusiastic, hard
workers during their busy summer months.
To find out
more about CSJP, call Laura Meares at (713)
964-0228. (Click here for a fact sheet about the internships.
Click here to download a list of participating agencies.
Click here for a description of interns' job duties and
responsibilities. Click here to see a copy of the Agency Application for
Summer Interns which may be printed out for submittal to Volunteer
Houston.)
Family Matters
Initiated at the national level by the Points of Light
Foundation, Family Matters empowers family members of
all ages to engage in a tradition of volunteering that increases
community pride and quality of life throughout the nation.
For
information about Family Matters, call Patricia
Cabrera at (713) 964-0226.
Health Education
Role-development Opportunities (H.E.R.O.)
This program places young people, ages 16 through 21, in
volunteer assignments within the medical field. It affords them
hands-on experiences that help them decide whether they would
like to pursue careers within the health professions. H.E.R.O.
also involves them in special projects and medical site visits to
complement their volunteer experiences and matches them with
health care professionals who advise them on their educational
and career plans.
To find out
more about H.E.R.O., call Laura Meares
at (713) 964-0228.
The
Holiday Project
The Holiday Project is a national organization with
chapters in a large number of cities throughout the United
States. Its central function is to organize volunteer visits to
shut-ins at nursing homes, hospitals, and other institutions. It
is perhaps best known for its annual Christmas Day visits, but
many chapters sponsor visits on other selected dates throughout
the year as well.
The Houston
area chapter of the Holiday Project is an all-volunteer
program formed in 1996 under the auspices of Volunteer
Houston. Thus far we have organized visits in connection
with Christmas, St. Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day,
Grandparents' Day, and Thanksgiving.
For further
information call Walter Black at (713)
964-0229 or the Holiday Project Information/Voice
Mail Line at (713) 964-0247.
Also Of
Interest
The Houston Education
Resource Network
Volunteer Houston
is pleased to be associated with the Houston Education
Resource Network (HERN). The purpose of HERN is to provide an electronic information and
access system to facilitate linkage of available community
resources to needs of students, their families, teachers, and
schools. Central among its features is a Community Resource
Inventory developed to identify information and services
useful in addressing the diverse needs of children and educators.
Houston's Promise
Houston's
Promise is a city-wide initiative to serve the needs of
200,000 children by the year 2000. True to its mission, Volunteer
Houston leads this unprecedented collaboration of nonprofit,
government and corporate sectors along with the faith communities
to ensure that children have healthy, fulfilling and productive
lives. Houston's Promise is a three year campaign
involving public awareness, communication and education in an
extensive recruitment effort to meet five essential needs in the
life of a child. The five goals of Houston's Promise
are:
§ a safe
place to learn and grow,
§ a healthy start,
§ a caring adult in an ongoing mentor relationship,
§ a marketable skill through effective education, and
§ an opportunity to give back to the community.
Volunteer
Houston is orchestrating the volunteer pledges and
placements in the hope of creating a long-term community vision
for the future of children in Houston. Beyond meeting the needs
of the children: to instill in them an ethic of life-long
volunteerism. For information about Houston's Promise,
call Mary Jo Galle at (713) 964-0224.
Volunteering Column
Published each Saturday in the Houston Chronicle, the Volunteering
Column provides descriptions of some of the newest volunteer opportunities that we are promoting.
The content changes each week.
Volunteer Journal
Our television show produced in collaboration with the City of
Houston’s Municipal Channel. It features an inside look into
the work performed by Houston area nonprofit agencies, including
in-depth interviews with their staff and volunteers. Walter
Black is the program's host.
Volunteer
Journal airs 6 times a day on Tuesdays at 12 a.m., 4 a.m., 8
a.m., 12 noon, 4 p.m., and 8 p.m. Look for it on cable Channel 16
in most areas of the city, and Channel 42 in the NASA/Clear
Lake area.
Return to Top