Community Service at TREE
Every student at TREE is required to perform hours of community service. Middle School students are required to perform 20 hours of community service, and High School students are required to perform 30 hours a year.
TREE will offer various opportunities as well as on-campus tasks and chores to help students fulfill this requirement. However, students are encouraged to perform community service away from TREE and are only asked that it be verified by the foundation or organization for which our students gave community service hours. Community Service at TREE is a required activity and every student must fulfill their minimum required hours to be credited for the completion of that academic year. For questions and to turn in hours please contact: Christy.Elliot@treeacademy.org
Community Service Hours Resource List
We are always adding to this list! Please email other opportunities we can include to:
Special Olympics
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Special Olympics Southern California would not exist today without the expertise, time, and enthusiasm of its volunteers.
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They are on the sports field guiding the athletes through drills. They are behind the scenes ensuring events run properly.
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And they are giving and receiving more high fives and hugs than they can count.
https://www.sosc.org/volunteer
Children’s Hospital
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What they do: Provide pediatric health care to more than 111,000 children each year
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How you can help: Work directly with patients by playing board games, reading, or assisting in hospital playrooms
https://www.chla.org/high-school-summer-volunteer-program
Evidence of Love Animal Care
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What they do: Assist “evidence animals” (animals that are victims of an animal cruelty case) living in city and county animal shelters by placing them with their forever families
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How you can help: Raise and donate funds, donate items, raise awareness, and/or foster animals
http://www.evidenceoflove.org/volunteer
Food on Foot
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What they do: Distribute food and clothing to the homeless and poor
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How you can help: Distribute clothing and food in the city
https://www.foodonfoot.org/volunteer/
No-Kill Los Angeles (NKLA)
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What they do: Provide spay/neuter services to increase adoptions, and help find homes for dogs and cats.
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How you can help: Pet care, promotional work, administrative work, and event staffing
No-Kill Los Angeles (NKLA Voulenteer Link)
Dogs of Service
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What they do: Provide military members with service dogs free of charge
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How you can help: Raise and donate funds, donate items, and participate in service events
Habitat for Humanity
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​​What they do: Everyone deserves to have a place they call home. By volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, you can build up your community (literally).
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How you can help: Their Habitat Youth Programs accept volunteers between the ages of 5 and 40 for everything from home construction to affordable housing advocacy.
https://www.habitat.org/volunteer/near-you/youth-programs
American Red Cross
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You may recognize the American Red Cross as the folks who provide disaster relief and organize blood donations, among other things. It’s essential work, and, yes, you can get involved! Take a look at their youth volunteer opportunities, and if you’re feeling inspired, you can even start your own Red Cross Club at your school.
Key Club
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As the oldest service program for high schoolers, the Key Club has quite a history of helping teens get involved in volunteering. Because clubs are student-led, you get a direct say in the kinds of service projects you want. Chances are, there’s already a chapter in your school, but if not, you can try taking the lead on one.
Find great ideas from peer-submitted service projects
Meals on Wheels
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For those teens who just got their license and love any reason to get behind the
wheel, here’s a volunteer opportunity that’ll make driving worthwhile. Meals on
Wheels is on a mission to meet the nutritional and social needs of seniors. 225
million meals have been delivered so far to find out how you can get involved.
Connect with your local provider
Best Buddies
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Volunteer with Best Buddies to help end the social, physical, and economic
isolation of 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities --
and you’ll make some new pals in the process! Join a school chapter (or start
your own) to use friendship as a tool for inclusivity in your community.
Sierra Club
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Over 3.5 million Sierra Club members are fighting for the Earth, and you can
become one of them! They even have a youth-specific Sierra Student Coalition that empowers teens and young adults volunteering for climate justice. Clean up outdoor spaces, lead nature outings, or lend your voice to environmental campaigns.
https://www.sierraclub.org/youth
DoSomething.org
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Did you know DoSomething is the largest global org exclusively for young people
and social change? Through our volunteer, community service, and social action
campaigns, our millions of members tackle campaigns that impact every cause,
from poverty to violence to education to the environment. Explore our campaigns for actionable volunteer opportunities made with young people in mind.
Learn To Be a Virtual Tutor
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High school students can sign up with “Learn To Be” and serve as a virtual tutor for K-12 students in need of academic assistance in science, reading, and math. Tutors work on-line, one-on-one with students. Check the website for details to find out how to sign up and become matched up with your student.
Become a volunteer tutor with LTB!
Teens Give Virtual Volunteering
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With Teens Give Virtual Volunteering, high school students serve as tutors to children in need of extra academic assistance. Many of the students served attend “after-school programs in underserved communities are attending Title 1 schools and are performing well below grade level.” Application information is available online
Welcome to a new way of volunteering
Alexandria House – Top Chef Program
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Alexandria House is a transitional residence for women and women with children. The Top Chef Program is Alexandria House’s cooking volunteer program. Volunteers may work Monday through Sunday at 6:00 pm serving dinner for current residents and other members of the Alexandria House community. Guidelines are available online.
FoodCycle LA
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All you need to get started to volunteer for FoodCycle LA is “a car and a little bit of time.” This organization partners with ChowMatch to make sure no food is wasted and excess food is delivered to those who most need it. Minors can still volunteer as long as they’re also volunteering with someone over 18.
L.A. Works Stock the Pantry
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Volunteers are greatly needed to help “sort, stack, and shelve valuable food to distribute to the hungry throughout Los Angeles.” Volunteers must be at least 18 to help assist the L.A. Regional Food Bank, the second-largest food bank in the U.S.
Stock the Pantry: Sort food with the L.A. Regional Food Bank
My Friend’s House Foundation
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My Friend’s House Foundation is a non-profit human service organization whose mission is to “provide life-sustaining staples that include food, clothing, toiletries, and encouragement to the homeless and economically disadvantaged.” Volunteers are needed each Wednesday (rain or shine) from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm to “give back donated clothes and food to the Los Angeles homeless population” at the We Feed the Hungry weekly event.
Big Sunday
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Big Sunday is a wonderful resource with lots of ways for volunteers to get involved and make a difference in their communities. In fact, Big Sunday believes everyone can help make a positive difference. Check their website for volunteer opportunities, including ways to help from home.
Kitty Bungalow
Kitty Bungalow depends on its volunteers to “help us improve the lives
of over 1,500 cats and kittens per year.” Students can volunteer by
providing their homes temporarily and serving as “foster mamas and
Papas.”
Volunteer or Foster at Kitty Bungalow
P.A.T.H. – People Assisting the Homeless
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There are many ways for teens to get involved and help P.A.T.H. A variety of kits are very much in demand right now including care kits, stay-at-home kits for families, food support kits for seniors, and more.
Project Giving Kids
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Check out Project Giving Kids to discover a wide range of volunteer opportunities. Project Giving Kids works by connecting “kids, teens, and families to high-quality, age-appropriate volunteer activities with our network of nonprofit partners across the country.”
Find a cause you feel passionate about and ways to help on the website.
Reading to Kids
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Teens with a love of reading who are looking to help younger children with their reading should check out “Reading to Kids.” Multiple opportunities are available for teens to volunteer as a reader at Saturday reading clubs.
Schools on Wheels
Schools on Wheels provides “free tutoring and mentoring to children from kindergarten through twelfth grade living in shelters, motels, vehicles, group foster homes, and on the streets in Southern California.” Tutors are all volunteers. Teens between the ages of 16-18
can serve as peer tutors, tutoring one hour per week.
Check the website for details.
Great Food Program
There are several volunteer opportunities available through St. James Episcopal Church. Teens may wish to assist with the Soup Kitchen (generally on Tuesdays and Fridays), the Food Pantry (Thursdays), and/or Shower of Hope program (Saturdays).
Check the website for details on how to give back to those most in need in the Mid-City area.
The Midnight Mission
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A variety of volunteer opportunities are available with The Midnight Mission. The Midnight Mission was founded in 1914 and continues to serve as a homeless shelter and homeless services provider. Teens may choose to tutor, sort clothing, serve meals, make food boxes and hygiene kits, and more.
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Together We Rise
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Together We Rise offers teens the chance to help out with a Safer at Home Service Project. Teens work from home to help create a special Sweet Case Kit for foster children to use when moving houses. (Many times. Foster children are only given a trash bag to move their belongings.)
Volunteer Match
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Volunteer Match is an extensive database with a very large listing of volunteer opportunities, including virtual volunteer opportunities. If your teen has a particular field they feel passionately about, this may be the site that helps find a related volunteer opportunity.
Youth Service America – Service Vote
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High school seniors who feel strongly about their right to vote will want to check out “Service Vote – 20 Ideas for 2020.” There are a number of ways listed for teens to help register, educate, and prepare to vote in the upcoming election.
Special Olympics
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Parents sing the praises of the Special Olympics. Volunteers of all ages are welcome to become coaches, trainers, officials, event organizers, fundraisers, managers, and unified partners—playing alongside athletes with intellectual disabilities.
Pet Partners
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​​Here's another idea for animal-loving kids and their parents. Through organizations like Pet Partners, children as young as 10 can volunteer as therapy pet handlers as long as they are supervised by a parent. Teens can provide therapy pet services to local nursing homes and hospitals on their own. If you're wondering what the difference is between a service animal, an emotional support animal, and therapy animal—learn the terminology here. Don't have a dog or cat? You can register rabbits, guinea pigs, horses, birds, and more!
Feeding America
Parents say their teens have learned and grown by working at food banks, like those run by Feeding America. Helping out with this cause is even more important during the pandemic as food insecurity has increased across the country.