The holiday season has passed us by, and you’ve likely endulged in countless hours of eating, drinking and being merry with family and friends. I know I have. But many generous people have also been out spending time with and caring for people they don’t even know, in an effort to make their holidays brighter. During the past few months the numbers of volunteers and donations – of both money and time – flow into charity outlets stronger than any other time of year. Now is the time to remember that those problems don’t go away with the season. People are in need of help year round, in every possible way, and your skills can always be put to work.
But how do you choose, out of the countless possibilities, the place that would best suit you? Where your knowledge and interests would be best put to use for the ultimate good? One way to find your best fit is to visit www.volunteerbuffalo.com, a website designed specifically to highlight the various opportunities in Buffalo.
The idea behind the site is to tailor search options so interested volunteers can find opportunities by searching for either location, type of organization, or needed skills.
“I thought, for instance, that people who knew how to do programming could use their skills for an organization, as opposed to sweeping the floor somewhere, though both are equally important to the charity,” said Betsy Wallace, the founder.
Wallace, in face, started the site as a way to use her own special skills to help better the city. A professional web designer, she felt she could help by compiling a database of different organizations, special events, and volunteer opportunities. “I decided I needed to do something about volunteering, because I was getting so frustrated with people just not following through,” she said. The website is an easy way for people to get familiar with different non-profit organizations and make contact with them, removing that first barrier of people simply not knowing where they’re needed.
VolunteerBuffalo.com’s mission is “to Raise the profile of volunteering and help people get more out of life by making it easy for them to give time to our local communities; to use web-based technology to match the skills, interests and availability of volunteers with a range of opportunities; and to build strategic alliances to help meet the needs of volunteers and the voluntary sector.” The site works with the organizations by providing a contact form so they can more easily find needed volunteers.
If you haven’t checked it out yet, get on the web, search the possibilities, then get out and put your skills to use to make Buffalo a better community for all – year round.