We love to highlight the good works of VolunteerSpot users all over the country. Today our spotlight shines on Marissa Vogel, founder of Little Helping Hands in Austin, TX.
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Please tell us a little about yourself and about why you started Little Helping Hands.
My husband and I have two girls, ages 4 and 6. When my now 6-year old was 4 and in preschool she started coming home and showing me schoolwork, which included some amazing examples of comprehension. It dawned on me that I wasn’t giving her enough credit – she could understand much more than I thought she could and had a skill set to match! She was so eager to learn and wanted constant exposure to work; I decided that it was time to start teaching her about compassion and social responsibility through community service activities.
I spent hours on the Internet trying to find meaningful volunteer opportunities for her. But most organizations required their volunteers to be at least 12-years-old. There really weren’t a lot of family volunteer activities out there. My wish was to go to a single resource to find volunteer opportunities appropriate for her age and to be able to sign up for them easily -- a year later, we launched Little Helping Hands to inspire volunteering in early childhood!
What are your volunteer needs for Little Helping Hands?
Right now we’re in the process of building our programs around volunteer tasks/themes. For example, our Kids Cooking for Charity program involves meal preparation food assembly, baking, etc. The idea is to provide young children with the opportunity to learn or practice basic cooking skills while at the same time doing it for a good cause.
Our Lil’ Green Hands program will involve activities associated with environmental awareness activities like gardening/planting, harvesting local produce, and city/park clean-ups. With this program, the idea is to educate and engage young learners to appreciate and respect our environment.
We currently recruit groups of families, typically 4-6 per session, and our activities are geared toward children between the ages of 4-12. Families visit our website, view the available volunteer opportunities, and sign up from there through a link to VolunteerSpot. We’ll handle everything else. The idea is to make it simple for parents/caregivers to find, sign-up, and participate in volunteer activities with their young children. Our goal is to create a meaningful and fun volunteer experience for the entire family.
How did you get interested in volunteering?
I grew up participating in community service activities periodically throughout childhood, primarily through school and church-sponsored activities. As an adult, I’ve volunteered at the SPCA, Ronald McDonald House, my daughter’s kickball league, and served on committees for professional organizations. I have always wanted to do more volunteering, though, but it seemed like I never had enough time with work and family taking priority. Now, since it is my work and part of our family life, I am devoting more time to it!
What’s one piece of advice you have for volunteers or their leaders out there?
Try a variety of activities and support multiple causes. We can all do many things well, beyond what we do professionally. Volunteering gives you an opportunity to use different skill sets – pick one that’s not what you do every day and sign up to volunteer for a cause or organization you don’t know much about. You’ll be amazed what’s out there!
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
Our organization needs a good registration tool and it doesn’t make sense to reinvent the wheel. VolunteerSpot provides most of the features we need to operate efficiently and is easy to use. They’re also very customer-focused and responsive to our suggestions and ideas. It’s a plus that they’re Austin-based, as well -- supporting local businesses and organizations is part of our business, so it makes sense to utilize them.
Anything else you’d like our readers to know?
For those who want to involve their children in volunteering but think they’re not old enough, don’t underestimate the knowledge of a young child. They’re likely more ready than you think and early childhood is the best time to start!
If you're interested in learning more about Little Helping Hands and family-friendly volunteering, or want to make a donation, please visit http://LittleHelpingHands.org,
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We salute Marissa and all the volunteer heroes out there everyday making our communities better places to live! If you're using VolunteerSpot, write and tell us about what you're doing, and give us a chance to shine our Volunteer Spotlight on you!! Just email us at VS@volunteerspot.com.
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