MLK Day is a day for our community to celebrate and honor Martin Luther King Jr's life and legacy. As such, we want to encourage students to serve their communities and to foster conversations around social justice, civic engagement, and positive impact. While all MLK Week events, including the Day of Service, have been delayed, we would still like to encourage our students to serve their community virtually! Below are a number of opportunities for students to volunteer virtually with some of UNCP's local community partners and other national organizations.
Why should you volunteer virtually?
- Low-risk environment during the current COVID-19 pandemic
- Flexibility in working with your schedule
- No need to worry about travel!
- Will still boost your resume
- Continue to gain skills and knowledge for future goals (personal and career)
- Creates new connections around the country!
Local Opportunities:
You can search for local, virtual opportunities by going to serve.uncp.edu, selecting "Opportunities," and filtering the virtual opportunities. Some virtual opportunities currently available include:
- World Cares Center - Disaster Volunteer Training
- Democracy North Carolina - Voter List Maintenance Outreach
- Cape Fear Volunteer Center - Create Hand-Sewn Items for women and children in shelters
- Cape Fear Volunteer Center - Write cards to socially isolated seniors
- Crossed: The Youth Law Center - Become a mentor to the youth of our community
National Opportunities:
Crisis Text Line - Crisis Text Line is a free, 24/7 text line for people in crisis in the U.S. Serve as a Crisis Counselor and answer texts from people in crisis, helping them through active listening collaborative problem solving, and safety planning. Crisis Counselors will receive 30 hours of training (for free) beforehand and will need to commit at least 4 hours per week (to a total of 200).
Zooniverse - The Zooniverse is the most popular platform for people-powered research. The goal of the organization is to enable research that would not be possible without the support of thousands of volunteers. Volunteers do not need to have a specialized background, training, or expertise. Volunteers can select a project from a wide range of disciplines, including the ars, biology, climate, history, language, literature, medicine, nature, physics, social science, and space.
Instant Wild - ZSL's Instant Wild brings volunteers live images and videos from around the world for you to identify! No special expertise or training is necessary - all volunteers need to do is watch and tag the animals in the images. All involvement contributes to conservation efforts AND you get to see some of the world's wildest places!
Cards for a Cause - Send your support and positive vibes to a sick or injured child! Instructions for making cards, including where to mail them, can be found here.
Writing Wonders Organization - The Writing Wonders Organization is a student-led, global organization dedicated to spreading happiness and love through letters and artwork. Volunteers can select an organization, create the requested content, and send it to their chose organization.
Baton Rouge Youth Coalition - The BRYC prepares high-achieving, under-resourced high school students to excel in college. You can serve as a mentor in a multitude of ways - including learning, research, college, ACT prep, tutoring, and writing. This a cool way to connect with the New Orleans community!
Distributed Proofreaders - This organization provides a web-based method to ease the conversion of books into e-books. Volunteers are asked to proofread the uploaded content and can commit as much and as little time as they would like.
Translators without Borders - Translators without Borders are not only looking for translators, but also for project managers, graphic or web designers, and fundraising!
Be My Eyes - Be My Eyes is a free app that connect blind and low vision people with sighted volunteers for virtual assistance via video call.
The Trevor Project - The Trevor Project works to end suicide among the LGBTQ+ community through crisis services, peer support, research, public education, and advocacy. Volunteers can serve as crisis support counselors to support LGBTQ youth through phone calls or text messages. Counselors are asked to dedicate 3 hours a week for a minimum of one year and are given 40 hours of training to prepare for their role.
RAINN - RAINN is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization and is looking for volunteers to support the National Sexual Assault Hotline (NSAH). The NSAH provides live, secure, anonymous support to survivors of sexual assault and their loved ones. All services are delivered through a simple instant message format. You can also search their database for opportunities to serve the local hotlines.
