By Laura K. Cowan

Kids are back to school, but the community is still struggling. Many activities are up in the air even now. One of the ways we can create meaning out of the suffering around us is to volunteer to help others. We all know people or know of people who still have jobs but struggle to afford enough food or utilities. The environment continues to need our help. There are many ways that volunteering can help us help others, which can also support our own mental or physical health.

Volunteering can provide healthy activity for kids whose routines have been disrupted, while also soothing the agitation of feeling helpless to do anything for others during such complicated times.

There is a lot of need out there, as well as opportunities for volunteering that will fit pretty much anyone. Kids’ volunteer activities here include indoor and outdoor options, from helping the homeless to working with animals. In some cases, you don’t even have to be in-person to be a volunteer. If you’ve got a service-minded kidlet, here are some ways you can support them in helping others, sometimes without even leaving the safety of home.

Therapeutic Riding Volunteer

Therapeutic Riding Inc. is a program that helps individuals with disabilities learn to ride horses in order to help them in some way. “It’s not equine-facilitated therapy like some other programs,” volunteer Program Coordinator Paula Evers told me. “Therapeutic Riding gives adaptive horsemanship riding lessons to impaired individuals. That can include cognitive or physical disabilities,” she said. “Participants are received on a case-by-case basis from four-years [old and] up. People receiving the lessons have to be under 185 pounds, because our horses are aging out and that’s the limit they can carry.”

The goals? Increase core strength, balance, and cognitive steering to maneuver a horse to the indoor arena. The program helps a wide variety of people but won’t work for any individual with uncontrolled seizures or other disabilities that might cause injury during riding.

Paula said the best volunteers to help with this program should be a minimum of 14-years old, because they need to help with side-walking the horses or leading horses with riders on them, and they need to be physically capable of helping with an emergency dismount if that’s ever necessary. The job is to assist the rider in completing tasks, and volunteers need to be able to walk in an arena for 30-40 minutes.

The program hasn’t tried youth fundraising, but they are open to the possibility. If you have a younger child that wants to volunteer, you can contact Therapeutic Riding to coordinate a remote fundraising drive.

Therapeutic Riding has a backlog of volunteers because Covid-19 has limited their ability to host orientations that are needed for new volunteers, but the team would still love new signups. It’s not drop-in, however, and requires a commitment of six sessions of six weeks for each participant. The program runs year-round now in an indoor heated arena.

“Our current facility is gorgeous,” Paula told me. “We used to be on Joy Road and all our horses were rented. Now all our horses are owned. We have about 15 equine partners.”

For more information about Therapeutic Riding Inc., visit therapeuticridinginc.org.

Help Clean Up The Environment

Want to clean up your own neighborhood or an area of Ann Arbor that needs some ecological support? NAP, or the City of Ann Arbor’s Natural Area Preservation program, is an Ann Arbor initiative where you can volunteer with your friends for one of their scheduled cleanup days or create your own.

Tina Stephens is the City of Ann Arbor Natural Area Preservation’s volunteer and outreach coordinator. She said that the city hosts “Stewardship Workdays” in local parks. She told me that kids are welcome at all of their events, but here is a list of events that are most kid-friendly: Gallup Park on the Huron River, Botsford Nature Area near Miller Rd., and M-14 on the northwest side, Marshall Nature Area off of Dixboro and Plymouth Road on the northeast side, and MaryBeth Doyle Nature Area near Platt Road on the east side of town.

Workday coordinator Katherine Beauchamp said, “NAP works to protect and restore Ann Arbor’s natural areas and foster an environmental ethic among the community. [This includes] plant propagation, seed harvesting, invasive plant removal, and trail maintenance.” Group workdays are all open to the public. You can find a calendar of events at a2gov.org/NAP.

“Groups who are interested can set up private workdays,” Beauchamp explained. It’s a bit more flexible, so we can set a date and time that works best for everyone.” It takes a minimum of eight volunteers to plan a private workday, so bring your friends and family. “For minors we need them to be accompanied by an adult,” Katherine said. “They can come with a parent or group leader. It depends on the group’s needs and who is coming to the event.”

Also, “If kids have a natural area in their neighborhood they want to preserve, we can set up a private workday to guide them through how to preserve their natural area.” This could be a really cool way to combine science class or homeschooling, teaching kids how to preserve natural areas and how to identify what’s happening in a natural area through a volunteering effort.

“Younger kids can’t do pole saws, but we can have them collect seeds or pull plants [while] supervised,” Katherine explained. “The first thing we direct people to look at is the public workday calendar. That’s at http://vhub.at/nap.”

NAP is located at 3875 East Huron River Drive in Ann Arbor. For more information about NAP, you can call (734)794-6627, visit a2gov.org/NAP, or join the NAP volunteer opportunities email newsletter at service.govdelivery.com/service/subscribe.html?code=MIANNA_104.

Create Better Futures for Local Kids

Community Action Network is a group of volunteers who offer after-school programs for kids, educational summer programs, and stabilization support services for youth to address social inequity.

Valerie Muthuswami is the Director of Volunteers at CAN. She told us that working with CAN is less in-person volunteering and more about fundraising. Kids can create their own fundraising campaign to support other kids in Washtenaw County, donate funds or school supplies for kids, or organize their own donation drive. “Easy ways for kids to get involved include a donation drive for Thanksgiving or other holidays with their class, team, or neighborhood friends. They can collect food, gifts, holiday gift bags, or other needed items for kids and their families in our communities.”

CAN works by a “Theory of Change,” in which local partners in under-resourced neighborhoods around Washtenaw County partner with the program to pull together resources and educational programming to offer kids a better future. The idea is to empower people within the community to work together to create better social and educational opportunities for local kids.

This is a great program for kids who want to volunteer remotely or who like organizing donation drives for other kids. Think seasonal or educational goods, or maybe a walkathon with funds raised to support CAN.

Read related article: Conscious Parenting—Running on Empty

You can view the CAN Theory of Change online at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_0ug1mZLbvXruZOaF7TjDgwTHMPhr2-o/view. Adults can volunteer in person for CAN’s programs, but children’s volunteering is limited to fundraising support for the program.

To find ways to donate and volunteer with CAN, visit canwashtenaw.org/ways-to-give. Community Action Network can be reached at P.O. Box 130076 Ann Arbor, MI, 48113. You can call (734)994-2985 for more information about programming or email info@canwashtenaw.org.

Serve Breakfast To The Food Insecure

Breakfast at St. Andrews is a program run by St. Andrew’s Church on North Division in Ann Arbor. The program serves anyone who is food insecure. About 50% of the program participants are unhoused, and 50% are low-income housing. According to Breakfast Director Morgan Battle, “Seventy-five percent of people do have jobs but don’t have enough money to buy food.”

The inspiration behind the program came all the way back in the early 80s recession, Battle said. “We thought, what can we do to help people? We decided to start serving a hot breakfast every day, and we never stopped.”

The best age range for volunteers? “Age 15-90,” Morgan said. “The backbone of our program prior to Covid was retirees, but we strive to have a mix.” Morgan explained. St. Andrew’s loves the community that comes with all age groups working and eating together.

St. Andrews will take the program indoors for the winter but be back outdoors in the spring to maximize safety for everyone involved. Volunteers must be at least 14 years-old to volunteer and have received two doses of the Covid-19 shot or one of the Johnson & Johnson and have passed their waiting period to be considered fully vaccinated before working with the program. To apply, volunteers aged 14-17 must bring a completed Youth Volunteer Form on the first day they volunteer. For more information about the program, email standrewsbreakfast@gmail.com.

“Due to the pandemic, St. Andrew’s Breakfast Program is only able to serve to-go breakfasts that our guests pick-up outside,” Battle adds. “This requires only two volunteers. When serving inside, we need five to eight volunteers.”

If you can’t make it to serve breakfast because of school or safety concerns, there are other ways to volunteer. “We do sometimes have kids and school groups put together care packages,” Battle said. “Elementary and middle school students organize drives to put together Ziploc bags with hand sanitizer, a washcloth, travel dental hygiene kits, deodorant, and candy. Everyone loves candy,” Morgan said.

St. Andrew’s Church is located at 306 North Division Street Ann Arbor, MI. For more information about programs for volunteers, email standrewsbreakfast@gmail.com. You can learn more about this Episcopal church and their mission at standrewsaa.org.

Help House The Homeless

SOS Community Services was founded over 50 years ago by Eastern Michigan University students who saw a need in the community that wasn’t being met. It started as a crisis line. Now SOS Community Services is a food pantry and resource center to help people pay utilities. They give bus tokens to those who need transportation, have a diaper pantry, run parenting classes, offer parent and teacher resources, and even help people get into housing through a rapid rehousing service.

“We prefer older youth to volunteer with us. From 13 to 16, we need a parent present, 16 and 17 year-olds need parental permission. We don’t have the capability to host younger children,” SOS Community Services Volunteer Coordinator Regen Stahl said. “Other programs for 13-15 years- old, adults can come with kids to volunteer with them.

What’s it like to volunteer? “On Mondays, we have our Food Gatherers truck arrive, and volunteers help unpack the truck and sort and bag produce. Tuesdays from 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. we process online orders, and volunteers package them for afternoon curbside pickup. Wednesdays from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. we do distribution.

SOS is expanding their resource center to include social work resources. Older youth can volunteer to answer phone calls, file paperwork, or refer people to resources.

Stahl said that they’re open to expanding the program further, and kids can organize bottle/can return drives or other drives to raise money for the center or host food or diaper drives. SOS also has a Housing Team that is an on-call list of volunteers to help with cleaning and restocking shelter homes when families move in or out.

SOS Community Services is located at 101 South Huron Street in Ypsilanti, MI but serves the greater Ann Arbor area. You can reach them at (734)484-9900 or email Regen Stahl at regens@soscs.org. Find programming information at soscs.org and sign up for their volunteer newsletter.

Tutoring with the Ann Arbor Public Schools

Older kids can find an easy volunteer opportunity in tutoring peers after school at several local schools. They can tutor at Bryant Elementary, Dicken Elementary, or Forsythe Middle School. The Ann Arbor Public Schools is currently facing severe staffing shortages, as well, so you might find unexpected opportunities to volunteer for the school system in ways that weren’t previously available. For information and contact info on each school in the district, visit a2schools.org.fo

At Bryant, kindergarten classroom volunteers help with students aged four to five years-old. According to program coordinators, “Responsibilities would include assisting with writing, reading, and art activities, plus reading stories with individual children and assisting children and the teacher as needed.” To volunteer at Bryant, contact the principal Roberta Heyward. This is a better opportunity for adults, but many elementary schools also have ways for kids to get involved in behind-the-scenes support. You might find that if you want to tutor, your kid can participate in some way at the school at the same time. Schools are hurting for everything from bus drivers to teachers to funds for after-school programs right now, so it’s a perfect time to ask how you can help out.

At Dicken Elementary, small group tutoring and one-on-one tutoring openings are available for a wider range of ages: K-5 in all subject areas. You must be available to tutor during the main school day from 9:00 am - 3:30 pm or some part of that time.

Forsythe Middle School on Ann Arbor’s west side offers one-on-one tutoring for grades 6-8 in all subjects but is primarily focused on math and reading. You can volunteer during school hours or after school, which makes this a convenient opportunity for teenagers at nearby Skyline High School.

The Ann Arbor Public Schools have, like other school districts, made very hard choices in the past two years to keep operations working as well as possible while keeping kids safe during Covid. Because there are more remote programs now available to students who didn’t return to in-person learning, you might also inquire about ways to volunteer or tutor that are with the A2 Virtual + Village remote schooling programs. For more information on those programs and for contact information, visit a2schools.org/a2village.

Bryant volunteer tutors should contact Roberta Heyward, Principal, Bryant School, at (734)997-1212 or email heywardr@aaps.k12.mi.us. For tutoring at Forsythe Middle, contact the counselors at Forsythe at 1655 Newport Road, or call (734)994-1985. For Dicken Elementary, call the Principal at Dicken School at (734)994-1928. Dicken Elementary is located at 2135 Runnymeade.

Find The Perfect Volunteering Opportunity

There are so many volunteering programs we couldn’t list them all here, and of course programs are changing quickly because of Covid-19. We were told by a number of programs that they’ve reduced or cut in-person volunteering for children, in particular, for safety reasons this year, so you might find there are more opportunities for adults than children right now. That could quickly change, so keep an eye out if you’re looking for chances for your kids to get involved, or for you to work together as a family to give back.

Non-profits need our help more than ever during these hard times, so if we can find remote ways to support them, or safe ways for kids to volunteer, it’s one of the most meaningful times to participate in these valuable community support programs that are critical resources for so many of our neighbors.

If you’re looking for another volunteering opportunity for your child or you not mentioned here, there are some great apps and websites that list local opportunities near you. Try one of the following:

Volunteer Match: volunteermatch.org (The Ecology Network, Clean Water Action, Slow Food Huron Valley)

Ann Arbor Observer Volunteering Section: https://annarborobserver.com/cg/t0120.html#.YW7lCS2cbOQ (Girls on the Run, Project Grow, Jewish Family Services, 826 Michigan and more)

Local Wiki Volunteering Ann Arbor: https://localwiki.org/ann-arbor/Volunteer_opportunities_for_youth_and_teens (Ann Arbor Teens for Kids, Growing Hope)

We Will Get There

I know it feels like forever since this pandemic started, and many children’s activities besides restricted sports are a distant memory. But we will get there. I’ve found that when I’m in my head too much and down about what’s going on in the world, getting out and focusing on working with other people toward a positive goal can lift my spirits and get me back on track. I hope one of these activities, or a similar volunteering program, will help you help your kids through what we hope will be the final months of this pandemic.

However the next year shapes up, parents have had it hard on all sides during the last two years, and it can feel like there isn’t a lot of support for parents, much less kids, right now. I don’t really know what to say other than to acknowledge this, as well as the loss and struggle experienced by so many. But, this won’t last forever. Even if it hasn’t been the most polished couple of years as we pulled off the impossible from remote schooling to remote working to everything we juggled in between, we are getting through this. I sincerely hope that you find new connections, a renewed sense of community, and hope for yourself and your children.

If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that we need each other. I’ve seen kids helping with volunteering and family chores these last two years, and kids who pulled off heroic levels of achievement just to manage difficult schooling situations. Whatever you can manage right now, it’s fine.

It’s more than enough.

Laura K. Cowan is the Kids in The Community columnist for Crazy Wisdom Journal and the Healers of Ann Arbor columnist. She is a tech and wellness journalist from Ann Arbor, and also runs Cronicle Press, an Ann Arbor tech blog and content marketing consultancy for tech startups and small businesses. You can learn more at cronicle.press. You can reach Cowan at laurakcowan@gmail.com.