Volunteering is an excellent way to get involved with your local community. It may feel rewarding to help others, and you may meet interesting new people. However, it may be challenging to find somewhere you want to volunteer. We’ve created this guide of some places to volunteer in the San Jose, California, area to help you find somewhere you can help others.
Blossom Birth & Family
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Blossom Birth & Family is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based near San Jose in Palo Alto. This community-based organization helps women and families with all aspects of parenting, starting with the planning process through preparing children for preschool. It offers a range of classes, workshops, and resources to help all families. For example, it offers childbirth preparation classes, a breastfeeding support group, and baby and me fitness classes.
Volunteer opportunities with Blossom Birth & Family may include facilitating activities, promoting the organization in the community, working in the resource center, or working in a range of other positions. The organization welcomes volunteers from all walks of life and for any time commitment. It includes a volunteer interest form on its website.
The Hammer Theatre Center
The Hammer Theatre Center is a performance venue in downtown San Jose. San Jose State University owns and operates the venue, but it’s host to a range of community and university programming that highlights local, international, and student talent. The venue has two different theater spaces and hosts events like off-Broadway performances, music concerts, lectures, film screenings, dance performances, art shows, and more.
The Hammer Theatre offers volunteer opportunities for potential ushers. It requires volunteers to be at least 18 years old. Ushers may perform tasks like helping patrons find their seats, running the coat check, and passing out programs. It has an interest form on its website to share your interest in volunteering.
The Dancing Cat
The Dancing Cat is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in downtown San Jose. It provides a cage-free environment for at-risk, adoptable adults cats from the San Jose Animal Care Center. Patrons can visit The Dancing Cat and pay a small fee to interact with the cats in a living room-like environment. Guests can visit for an hour to play with the cats and help them socialize, and the organization uses these fees to care for the adoptable cats.
There are a variety of volunteer opportunities available with this organization. These include special positions, such as providing veterinary care to the cats, or on-site positions, such as greeters and attendants. It also offers a selection of at-home positions, such as being a cat foster parent or helping transport cats and supplies throughout the area. Each position has unique requirements and time commitments, so it’s important to review the qualifications and job descriptions before completing the volunteer interest form.
Japanese American Museum of San Jose
The Japanese American Museum of San Jose is a 6,400-square-foot facility near downtown San Jose. The museum has a range of permanent and rotating exhibits to highlight Japanese American culture and history. It covers topics like Japanese American immigration, identity, and contributions to communities and agriculture.
The museum offers a range of volunteer opportunities. Potential positions include maintenance, receptionists, docents, grant writers, archivists, IT support professionals, and more. Be sure to review the available volunteer positions and their typical duties, and visit the Japanese American Museum of San Jose’s website to complete the volunteer form.
Front Door Communities
Front Door Communities is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves vulnerable community members in downtown San Jose. It offers a range of services to help meet the basic needs of these people. For example, it distributes lunch bags with food, toiletries, and basic clothing items on a weekly basis. It also hosts Lifted Spirits events, which help provide women with clothes and other items. Sometimes it also sponsors Dignity on Wheels events, which provide mobile showers and laundry services, and events with a mobile medical van.
Front Door Communities offers a variety of volunteer opportunities. Volunteers may help with packing lunch bags, performing office tasks, distributing items, and more. If you’re interested in volunteering with this group, visit the volunteer opportunities page on its website for its contact information.
Humane Society Silicon Valley
Humane Society Silicon Valley, which is based near San Jose in Milpitas, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It’s the world’s first model shelter, meaning it successfully provides the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare. The shelter cares for a variety of animals, such as dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and rats. It aims to find matches for these animals to match them successfully into adopted homes.
Humane Society Silicon Valley boasts a community of over 3,700 volunteers. It offers volunteer opportunities on a recruitment basis, and it typically opens applications every few months. There are animal care, support, and customer service roles, and most roles require a minimum of a weekly or bi-weekly commitment for a six-week stint.
Sunday Friends
Sunday Friends is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in San Jose. It offers a variety of programs to assist vulnerable communities and help break the generational cycle of poverty. This includes providing courses in English, financial literacy, nutrition and health, computers, and more. It also has direct initiatives to help families achieve economic mobility.
The organization offers a range of remote and in-person volunteer opportunities. Remote opportunities include hosting a drive for items the organization needs or facilitating online courses. In-person organizations may include assisting with drive-thru distributions, picking up items and bulk orders, and delivering necessities and food to homebound community members.
We’ve reached the end of our list of some great places to volunteer in the San Jose, California, area. If you know about another exciting volunteering opportunity in the area, let us know. We may even update our guide to include it. At Lexus Stevens Creek, we’re proud to serve the San Jose community, and we hope this list helped you learn about new ways to support your local community.
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