Volunteer Opportunities

Want to make a difference in a day? Volunteers are needed to help seniors clean up yards. Rakes and yard waste bags will be provided. Great opportunity for groups, businesses, and families.

Meals on Wheels provides daily nutritious meals to homebound seniors with the added bonus of a quick safety check and much-needed human connection that comes with each delivery. Different routes are available. Scheduling is easy and flexible. This is a great opportunity for families, students, civic groups, churches, businesses, employees, and retirees to help out.

Many hands are needed in our kitchen for our Nutrition Program. Meals are packaged at the Community Center Monday thru Friday for our homebound seniors. Volunteers are also needed for serving site meals and clean-up.

SHARP (Senior Home Assistance Repair Program) is a volunteer-driven program designed to help senior citizens and disabled residents to continue to live with dignity in their own homes. The unique feature about the SHARP program is that, while the labor is performed by volunteers, the materials are paid for by the homeowner. If you are handy around the house and can perform minor repairs, such as fixing a leaky faucet, or are able to do regular maintenance, such as changing a furnace filter, then we are looking for you.

Do you enjoy helping people? Are you good with numbers and have some basic computer skills? Tax season is just around the corner and our local AARP Tax-Aide Program is seeking volunteer Tax counselors to provide free personal income tax preparation for seniors and low-middle income taxpayers. Training takes place in December and January. Tax preparation is done during February through mid-April, 1 or 2 days a week. We are also recruiting for Client Facilitators who staff the “front desk” at our sites to meet and greet customers and perform limited initial screening (but do not prepare tax returns). If interested in this rewarding volunteer opportunity, visit aarpfoundation.org/taxaide, or call 1-888-OUR-AARP (1-888-687-2277) for more information.

Even if your availability or interests do not fall into these categories, you can still help. We have special events that need friendly volunteers. We have Outreach Programs that utilize volunteers to make sure that seniors have up to date medical info or just to check in. If you are interested in volunteering at your convenience, we constantly have a need for individuals or groups to help with getting the word out on services or programs that are offered.

The Auburn Hills Rotary Club is a local service organization with a global reach to over 1 million members of Rotary International. The Auburn Hills Rotary Club is comprised of business and community leaders who use their passion and experience to serve the community through a variety of events and projects, such as its annual scholarship fund, pancake breakfast, AH city clean-up day, art auction, and mentoring for young professionals. The club meets twice a month. Contact: [email protected].

The Morning and Noon Optimist Clubs are each comprised of business owners, educators, community leaders, retirees, professionals, and citizens with the common goal of being a "Friend of Youth." Optimist Club activities include: youth essay contests, safety classes, and programs for educator, firefighter and policeman of the year.

• The Morning Optimist Club meets Thursday mornings from 7:30 a.m. - 8:30a.m. Contact: Bill Johnson 248.375.2004 | [email protected] | www.optimist.org
• The Noon Optimist Club meets each Tuesday at noon till 1:00 p.m. at the Community Center. Contact: Brian Marzolf 248.364.6793 | [email protected] | www.optimist.org

The Auburn Hills Historical Society hosts monthly meetings, held on the second Monday of each month. Our business meeting begins at 7:00pm at the Auburn Hills Public Library. We would be glad to help you with any Oakland County inquiry, but we mainly cover the area known as Pontiac Township, Auburn, Amy, Auburn Heights, and Auburn Hills. Please contact the Auburn Hills Historical Society for further information at [email protected].

Grace Center is one of the largest faith-based, long-term life skills programs for those afflicted by homelessness, chemical dependency, and abuse in southeast Michigan. Grace Centers of Hope (GCH) provides help and hope to those in need without any government funding. 1-855-HELP-GCN

Hope, healing and recovery for people in crisis 24/7 is what Common Ground provides. Professionals engage with people through multiple channels: in person, phone, text, chat or online. They aid anyone that seeks it. No experience is required! To get involved, please contact Rose Chisholm at 248.456.8150 or email [email protected].

Easter Seals aims to reduce disparities among different diverse groups by providing programs and services that address the social factors that affect health To volunteer email [email protected] or for more information visit www.essmichigan.org.

This valuable program is sponsored by the Auburn Hills Police, Fire and Senior Citizen Services Departments. The File of Life program is a paper emergency information system that is utilized by emergency personnel. Information about health, medications, and emergency contacts is included in this file. Volunteers will work closely with the departments in registering senior residents and updating records.

Avondale Youth Assistance (AYA) has maintained a long-standing partnership with the Avondale School District offering counseling and prevention services to Avondale students and their families in pursuit of its mission to prevent juvenile delinquency. AYA sponsors summer and after-school programs to help students succeed academically. Volunteers are needed for middle and high school tutoring. AYA's annual Youth Recognition Ceremony recognizes Avondale students for the good things they are doing in the community. If you know a young person who deserves to be recognized, nomination forms are available on the district's web site. AYA also matches youngsters with adult mentors who are trained through Oakland County Youth Assistance.