In its first 34 years of its history, Children’s Home Society of Washington relied on the strength of volunteers. We did not hire our first official staff member until 1930. Until then, volunteer worked in receiving homes watching and caring for children without parents.

Today, we continue to thrive thanks to the ongoing commitment of our incredibly generous and dedicated volunteers around the state.

Over the past six months, we’ve been creating a new streamlined statewide volunteer application and onboarding process. We also found new and interesting ways that volunteers can contribute to the lives of children and their families.

We have a number of new and revitalized volunteer opportunities: 

• Virtual and clerical (like data entry and website updates)
• Early learning center (reading to children and hosting play sessions)
• Family resource center (leading computer classes in our computer labs, playing with children at our indoor park program, leading Talk Time classes, organizing donated items, assisting adults with their resume writing and teaching healthy eating classes to families)

We have long-term weekly volunteer positions (six months or more commitment) and many one-time or short-term positions. We also have new corporate or group volunteer opportunities as well.

Our goal is to match volunteering with opportunities to make a difference in the lives of our children and families while providing volunteers with a meaningful experience.

For more information, head over to the Volunteer Programs to learn more about our current opportunities and to fill out a request for more information.

We are grateful the many volunteers who have made it possible for us to continue our mission and are looking forward to sharing more information soon about our exciting growing volunteer programs!

Chelsea Sandlin is the director of Volunteer Programs.