Hello, My 14 year old daughter needs to fulfill 40 hours of community service per year for her high school. The school requires that the service hours directly benefit an individual or several people who have a need for her service. For example, homeless, elderly or disabled people. I know my daughter would love to work with children with disabilities, but I am having a hard time finding a school or center in my area that might want to have her help for a few weeks in April. If you have any ideas or know of a center or school in the Mountain View, Los Altos area that would love to have 40 hours of volunteer service please let me know. Thank you.
Update: Thank you all for your ideas, they are great. I had even lined up a few jobs for her, then i go to the school to pick up the forms and it turns out that this kind of service is not accepted by her school, unbelievable. The only service they will accept is for persons in "Material Need" (e.g. Food, Shelter, Clothing) and it must be done through an organization, not on her own. They are not making this easy. So now I ask again...any ideas?
There is a list on Saint Francis High School website that shows all the places in the local area. My daughter did some through our church, Sacred Heart, One Step Closer, Girl Scouts etc.
Good luck...I am sure you will find the complete list ont he site.That is where I got some of them.
What about Special Olympics? You can, also, call Evo Libri - she is in Sunnyvale and works with disabled youth. Also, contact Parents Helping Parents - they are in San Jose, but may be able to refer you to other places.
Green Pastures Home in East Palo Alto is a home with severely disabled kids - I don't know what their volunteer needs are, but it's worth contacting them. Also, Abilities United in Palo Alto is a center that works with disabled kids and adults - they may have volunteer opportunities as well. I know that they run some sort of preschool . . . but it would depend on your daughters availability during their preschool hours is my guess.
My son goes to the Morgan Autism Center in San Jose. I think they have HS students help out with an after school program (my son isn't part of that). Have her call them and ask 241 - 8161. They are located near Valley Fair mall.
HS students help out with the Challenger baseball in the spring and VIP soccer in the fall. That is usually on Sundays. Send me a message, and I can get you in touch with the organizers if that interests her. These teams usually have youth with a wide variety of disabilities.
HS students also help out with Special Olympics -- my son does the basketball. I think the first session for him is this Sunday 9 - 11 at Cupertino HS (Finch Road). I don't know what you need to do to sign up as a volunteer. 392 - 0170. They also play in Santa Clara on t and th evenings.
She could check with Parents Helping Parents in San Jose for more volunteer ideas. php.com
