Current Community Needs

As a service to the community, we list here occasional and ongoing volunteer needs and opportunities.  For more information or to sign up, please contact the organizations directly.

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The Maine Hunger Initiative Summer Meal program is a federal program that offers free, nutritious meals to children of families with tight budgets.  They need summer volunteers to make the program possible each week day June 24 - August 16th, 11 AM - 1 PM.  Volunteers will set up and serve lunches, clean up the meal site, and facilitate group activities with school age children.  They'll also get to know the community and have a good learning and work place experience with children, staff and other volunteers.   For more information, contact Kristin Smith, (207) 775-0026 ext. 2086 or
kking@preblestreet.org.

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Easter Seals Maine Development Committee needs volunteers to support PortQuest 2013, a fund-raising scavenger hunt that will allow participant teams of 2-4 people to use their brains and bodies to solve clues, complete challenges, and discover Portland, while raising funds for Easter Seals.  PortQuest takes place on August 17th in downtown Portyland, and  volunteers are needed to help in administering challenges, hosting clue spots, and overall assistance for participants.  More information  here or from Kim Wallace, 207-575-2680 or kwallace2@unum.com.  

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The Greater Portland Charitable Furniture Center is a non profit organization which redistributes donated home necessities to new immigrants, refugees, and others in dire need, staffed entirely by volunteers.  Able bodied volunteers are needed (including, but not limited to those with access to large vehicles such as pickup trucks or vans) to help with  pickups and deliveries of furniture.  Most recipients of the furniture live right in Portland.  This is a very rewarding volunteer activity which provides an opportunity to get to know some of our newest neighbors. 
If you can help, call the Furniture Center at 200-7796 and leave a message with phone number, to get a call back.  

 *********************************     Refugee & Immigration Services of Catholic Charities Maine seeks a Employment Services Volunteer to begin in May.  The Employment Services Volunteer will be directly involved in work that helps refugees find employment and become part of their new community.  The position offers rich, if unpaid, experience and flexible scheduling of 6-20 hours per week, and ideally a 6 month minimum commitment.  This role has served as a strong internship option for students in the past.  For full details, see http://www.ccmaine.org/volunteer/jobs/job/case-aide-assistant-2-3/catego...

MDA of Maine, serving young people with muscular dystrophy and related neuromuscular diseases, is now recruiting volunteer counselors for our first ever Maine Volunteer MDA Summer Camp, being held Sunday July 7 through Friday July 12 at Camp Waban in Sanford Maine. Camp counselors work one-on-one with campers for the entire week, providing personal care and supervision, as well as companionship at a wide range of recreational and social activities. Training is provided.

Contact: Danielle Fish, Health Care Services Coordinator, Muscular Dystrophy Association, 39 Mechanic Street, Suite 100, Westbrook, ME 04092, P: (207)854-3749 F: (207)854-6265, dfish@mdausa.org or portlanda@mdausa.org

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Girls on the Run - Maine is a non-profit after-school program that insipres girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun, experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running. GOTR is looking for assistant coaches for teams in the Portland area for the Fall 2013 and Spring 2104. The season runs for 10 weeks and teams meet after school twice a week (days vary by site). The fall season begins the second week in September and the Spring season begins the last week in March. Coaches do not have to be experienced runners, we just require a belief in our mission and an interest in working with girls in grades 3-5. All coaches candidates must go through an interview, background check and Girls on the Run Training prior to the start of the season. If you are interested in being a coach, please visit our website for more details and to fill out an inquiry form. http://girlsontherunmaine.org/get-involved/ To learn more, please contact Program Coordinator, Staci Olson at staci.olson@girlsontherun.org.

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Biddeford Estates is a 89 bed assisted living home that provides 24/7 care and support to the frail elderly,  looking for kind and compassionate volunteers to help with wellness programming and activities. Volunteers can do anything from 1:1 visits (listening, reading, chatting with residents), to leading games (card, board, Wii), or if they have a particular interest (art, exercise, cooking, etc.) we can help to develop a program or activity around that.  Potential specialized service learning for visual arts would be a study on Aging; for Therapeutic Rec to have hands on experience developing programs for residents with co‑morbidities; or for history students to collect oral history from first hand accounts about WWII and the Great Depression, etc.  Contact Brittnee Greenleaf, MS, Resident Wellness Director, (207) 458‑8346.

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Partners for World Health always needs volunteers to help with pick up and sorting and organizing at the warehouse. All are welcome to come and participate and see how you can make a difference in our environment and how your efforts help to improve health care throughout the world.   For more information or to volunteer, contact Cari-Lynn Lane, Volunteer Coordinator, at cari-lyn@partnersforworldhealth.org

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Ingraham House, a residential home for developmentally disabled clients in downtown Portland, is seeking a student or group of students to spend 1-2 hours a week teaching simple songs to clients. Contact Briana Markoff at Briana.Markoff@goodwillnne.org
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Portland Lion's Club  The Portland chapter of Lion's Club International, whose mission is "to empower volunteers to serve their communities, meet humanitarian needs, encourage peace and promote international understanding," wants to forge a relationship with students at USM, and give them the ability to not only be a member of the Portland LIONS Club, but to take on a leadership role within the club. Our vision is to allow the students to partner with the current leaders and actually run the club with the current officer’s guidance.  Many leadership roles and project opportunities exist.  For more Information: Please contact Bruce Roullard, President – bruce.roullard@bankofamerica.com or Nathan Cadorette - nathan.cadorette@maine.e