7 Best Ways To Volunteer In L.A.

Want to kick off 2010 with a few good deeds? If you're in the Los Angeles area, ABC-7 has you covered.

From giving back a little puppy love to raising literacy rates for children across the city, they've pulled together the top seven ways you can volunteer in L.A.

WATCH THE VIDEO:

Here's more on the top three:

#1 Karma Rescue Karma Rescue saves at-risk dogs from the high kill Los Angeles area shelters. Karma provides each dog a new beginning and finds them safe and suitable permanent homes through adoption, advocacy and education.

Find out more about volunteering with the organization, and fostering or sponsoring a dog in Los Angeles on the site's How You Can Help section.

#2 Reading to Kids
Reading to Kids is a grassroots organization dedicated to inspiring underserved children with a love of reading, thereby enriching their lives and opportunities for success in the future. To this end, Reading to Kids gathers on average 1,175 children and 473 volunteers at reading clubs on the second Saturday of every month at eight Los Angeles elementary schools.

You can volunteer at one of the regular reading sessions, donate to the program or join the program's taskforce by learning more on the program's site.

#3 Chrysalis

Chrysalis is a Los Angeles based non-profit dedicated to helping economically disadvantaged and homeless individuals become self-sufficient through employment opportunities. It provides critical employment services to over 2,500 individuals annually through our centers based in downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and the San Fernando Valley.

You can help get people back on their feet by making an in-kind donation, volunteering at one of the Chrysalis centers or hiring a Chrysalis worker. Find out more on the Chrysalis site.

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Comments

[GloriaFlorida]

11:26 AM on 03/17/2010

More volunteers are needed nationwide.
Online tutoring high school children has proven to be effective in reducing the drop-out-school rates.
A good network is Icouldbe.org

All over the country animals at shelters need our help and more volunteers to stop unnecessary killings of so many healthy and adoptable pets.
http://shameonusamerica.blogspot.com/

[rikkidb]

06:15 PM on 01/07/2010

I am in need of 40 more professional women willing to donate 1 day a month to mentoring an inner city Los Angeles middle-school girl. Currently we have about twice as many girls signed up for the program as mentors and I refuse to believe there aren't 40 more women in LA willing to spend 5 - 10 hours a month making a difference in a girl's life. Please contact us if you are at all interested!

####

The MOSTE organization (Motivating Our Students through Experience) is looking for professional women willing to devote 5-10 hours per month to mentor an inner-city Los Angeles middle school girl. The goal of MOSTE is to keep girls out of gangs, in school, and bound for college. The organization serves middle and high school girls from low-to-moderate income households located in South Los Angeles and Pasadena. Many girls in the MOSTE program are from single-parent households living at or near poverty level. Through one-on-one mentoring along with group events, MOSTE mentors are helping all students to have an equal opportunity to attain a college degree.

For more information, please email [e-mail] or visit www.moste.org.

[Denise Lopez]

04:19 PM on 01/07/2010

The Art of Elysium LA: JOIN US AS A VOLUNTEER! Artists have the unique ability to help children facing difficult circumstances discover a sense of joy and individuality through creativity. In return, those same artists, who have been taken outside of their normal scope of work, are stretched and enriched in ways they never imagined. For more information visit our website at www.theartofelysium.org
facebook.com/TheArtofElysium
twiiter.com/TheArtofElysium

[gericare77]

03:01 PM on 01/07/2010

Become a Real Virtual Volunteer
Online “virtual” volunteering has been around for over thirty years. Most charities have an Internet site and communicate with contacts via email. Some also have forums and Wikis to ease the flow of information. It’s also possible to conduct webinars and other meetings online with free tools such as DimDim. However, most people tend to think of regular volunteers, who donate their time and expertise at a particular time and place, or by going out into the community, rather than being able to participate from home and without having to travel. In this article we look at how to become a virtual [...]
http://silverbuzzcafe.com/?p=6876

[RandyTyler]

02:26 AM on 01/10/2010

Kudos to your work in helping educate the public about virtual volunteering as an option. Online volunteering, via the Internet in one form or another (eg, Usenet, Pine, Lynx, ARPA) certainly has a long history but only with the development of a graphical user interface (namely the Web) was online volunteering really accessible to non-profits and the general public. However, despite the Web's remarkable growth over the last 15 years (including easy of use and increased broadband penetration,), based on my12 years of pioneering online volunteering, I have observed that many non-profits are still slow to embrace online volunteering due to real or perceived barriers.

With the aim of helping (and hopefully inspiring) non-profits to consider Online Volunteering as one proven approach to sustain volunteerism within their organizations, I have developed a freely accessible resource entitled "Online Volunteering Technology, Tools and Tips" which is available at the following URL:

http://news.RandyTyler.org

Keep up your notable efforts. With a common goal, we will succeed!

Best Regards,
Randy Tyler
[e-mail]
http://www.RandyTyler.org

[Joel Arquillos]

02:16 PM on 01/07/2010

826LA is proud to have made this list at number 7! We're always in need of more volunteers, so please, go to our calendar and sign up to attend one of our volunteer orientations held on both sides of town each week. If you have questions, write to us at: [e-mail]

If you want to learn a bit more of what your time can do for the students 826LA serves, read my HuffPost piece here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-arquillos/use-your-volunteer-time-w_b_322933.html