Houston offers wealth of volunteering opportunities
Many are happy to take it upon themselves to donate their time within their communities in areas of interest or causes that are simply near and dear to their hearts.
Many Houston-area museums offer a flexible and diverse selection of volunteer opportunities. The Houston Museum of Natural Science (www. hmns.org) offers various options for seniors to donate their time — currently more than 40 percent of its 700-plus volunteer base is adults over age 60, many of whom are retirees.
Volunteer opportunities include serving as docents in different halls, providing commentary and answering questions about the museum’s various exhibits, as well as answering letters for auction requests, working at events, and doing arts and crafts with children. HMNS also allows volunteers to do outreach to schools through its “Docents to Go” program, which is staffed entirely by volunteers. Through this program, volunteers take museum items and do presentations at schools that may not be able to bring a large number of students for a museum trip.
HMNS’ volunteer opportunities are very flexible as far as time commitment. Museum staff requests that volunteers contribute at least 40 hours year and allows them to contribute these hours whenever they can on weekdays or weekends, with no maximum or minimum shift length.
“Volunteering at HMNS is a beneficial opportunity for older adults who have an interest in science and history, enjoy engaging the public and working with young children,” said Latha Thomas, vice president of marketing and communications, HMNS. “Being able to impart your knowledge and inspire young kids really counts for something.”
Similarly, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www. mfah.org) is another great opportunity for volunteers to donate their time to an area of interest. Many of its volunteers are recently retired teachers or corporate retirees who love art and want share that passion for art with the museum’s guests and families, and they want to volunteer behind the scenes to keep up their skills.
MFAH’s volunteer opportunities are very flexible, with shifts available during the week and over the weekends throughout the year. Volunteers are required to commit to 20 hours of volunteer service per year. Some people choose to volunteer on an occasional basis, while others will regularly contribute up to six hours at a time. Prospective volunteers must attend a new volunteer orientation. There are six orientations per year; these are typically every other month, with sessions available in the morning and one in the evening.
“Since the MFAH offers so many different types of volunteer opportunities, there is something
for everyone, whether it’s working in a specific department to assist with a project, helping families with art-making activities, becoming a docent, assisting with our many films, greeting visitors for events, and much more,” said Sarah Baker, associate publicist, MFAH.
For a list of Houston Museum District volunteer opportunities, visit houmuse.org/volunteer-inthe-district/.
Meals on Wheels (www.imgh.org/meals-on-wheels) has volunteer meal-delivery opportunities Monday through Friday during lunchtime, a prime opportunity to help homebound seniors. Shifts are available through five locations that volunteers can choose from to serve clients in their own community. Meals on Wheels has a user-friendly, online scheduling system that makes it easy for volunteers to sign up for routes.
Routes are designed to deliver in one to 1½ hours; volunteers have the freedom to deliver multiple times or just seasonally when they are available.
“We find that our older adult volunteers tend to be some of the most committed and dependable,” said Raequel Roberts, director of communications, Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston. “There is a special camaraderie between our older volunteers and Meals on Wheels seniors, and it is not unheard of for volunteers to eventually become clients themselves.”
To view listings of other volunteer opportunities within the greater Houston area, from working animal adoption events to gardening workshops, visit www. houstonvolunteer.org.