The Top Volunteer Organizations in Austin
The top volunteer organizations in Austin, Texas are reflective of the unique personality of the city itself. The capital city of Texas features one of the largest public universities in the nation, the Texas state capital and legislature, and a vibrant live music scene, which draws fans from far and wide for such festivals as South by Southwest and Austin City Limits. The liberal-leaning city is an anomaly in a state that is relatively conservative, and this plays into the types of volunteer organizations that you will find. Check out some of the top volunteer organizations in Austin, listed below, and see if any of them work for you and your lifestyle.
Austin Pets Alive!
Austin Pets Alive! is a volunteer organization that takes in abandoned animals without homes until someone can adopt them. Pets Alive! also provides information to pet owners, and people in general, to help prevent the killing of companion animals. As a non-profit, Pets Alive! is always in need of volunteers in some capacity, whether to help with the animals, paperwork or organizing various events. If you are a pet lover and believe in this cause, then this would be an ideal place to volunteer. Austin Pets Alive! keeps a counter of all the adoptions they have handled each month, with a goal of around 5,000 per year.
Due to the kind nature of the city of Austin, Austin Pets Alive! has had great success in finding homes for abandoned animals. Also, the organization promotes humane pet education as one of its key tenets. From a strategic standpoint, Pets Alive! throws creative types of events to help find pets homes. For example, there are no-fee mega adoption events, Pubs for Pups Pub Crawls, and a Pedal for Puppies event every year when the summer heat dissipates. In just three years, Pets Alive! has managed to raise the Town Lake Animal Shelter's save rate from fifty percent to ninety-two percent!
Helping Hand Home for Children
The Helping Hand Home for Children has been aiding abandoned and neglected babies in Austin since 1893. It is considered one of the premiere organizations for this volunteer work in the entire country today. Volunteering here is not only an incredibly wonderful and rewarding experience, but it is also something that will set the stage for a career in non-profit or social work in the surrounding community.
The Helping Hand Home has community and therapy service, foster care, computer assisted learning, and tutoring and therapeutic recreation programs. These various services and programs give children, who may stay at the facility for an extended period of time, a support network and a normal setting that resembles one that they would have in a stable family home. The organization has also partnered with the University of Texas to help provide a regular stream of student volunteers to work with children in all of these different areas of the organization. That said, anyone who passes the background check can still volunteer to help and is encouraged to!
SIMS Foundation
The SIMS Foundation is a volunteer organization in Austin that is unique to the capital city, as it helps struggling musicians survive while they concentrate on making their music. Given the musical identity of the city, SIMS truly helps Austin maintain its place as the premiere creative hub of the southwest. SIMS provides mental health or addiction recovery services for musicians all over the city, as well, helping them to deal with their problems so they may better concentrate on making music and living a healthy lifestyle. SIMS is always in need of volunteers, and giving your time to SIMS will help ensure that the rich musical tradition of Austin lives on.
