Volunteer Opportunities....
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Join us in making a better community through volunteerism! We invite you to explore the variety of opportunities in our many programs. If you are interested in volunteering, here is the place to start. Scroll down and follow the links to read about current opportunities to partner with us in your area of interest.
Even if the perfect volunteer opportunity isn't available at the moment, you can fill out a Volunteer Profile, and be notified when opportunities matching your interest areas open up...
Organizations, families and individuals are needed to "adopt" County parks. Adopting requires a commitment of at least four cleanups or projects per calendar year planned according to what works best with your schedule. Parks staff will be involved in planning the projects, and duties may include picking up litter, raking leaves, removing graffiti, reporting park hazards, planting, pulling weeds, and general beautification.
Open to everyone! Children under the age of 14 must have a parent attend with them.
The time commitment varies depending on the size and need of the park. Cleanups can be scheduled on weekends or weekdays. We ask for a commitment of at least four cleanups or projects per year.
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Volunteers are needed in the Wilbur D. May Arboretum & Botanical Garden located at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park. Volunteers will assist the Horticulturalist staff in duties such as maintaining the gardens, offering garden tours, assisting with special events, developing curriculum and helping to maintain the Arboretum database and records.
Volunteers must be 18 and older. A background check is required of all volunteers.
Variable and many volunteers work independently once trained.
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Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Volunteer. Emergencies and disasters happen everywhere. If you are tired of watching events unfold on the TV and saying "I wish I could help." We have a volunteer opportunity for you. CERT volunteers are trained citizens who assist first responders during community disasters and emergencies.
CERTs complete a 21 hour academy (usually taught in two weekends) and learn about disaster preparedness, emergency medical, fire safety, light search and rescue, disaster psychology, terrorism, documentation and incident command. During emergencies volunteers may help citizens, assist with shelters and evacuations, act as scribes or public call takers, or assist professional responders in a variety of ways. We support the mission of our responders be freeing the highly trained people to do the specialized tasks they have been trained to do.
Between emergencies CERTs help with community outreach, disaster training and exercises, and public education. CERT volunteers range in age from 18 to 89. No special skills are required. In a disaster there is a job for everyone.
CERT members must be 18 years or older, pass a standard background check, and complete CERT academy training.
NOTE: Background checks require additional paperwork.
CERT members must complete a 21-hour academy (usually taught over two weekends), and put in at least 2 hours per month of volunteer time.
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After applying, interested persons WILL NEED TO FILL OUT ADDITIONAL PAPERWORK in order to authorize us to perform a background check.
Companionship Volunteers will provide visitation and companionship to wards of Washoe County. These Volunteers need to be genuinely interested in working with elderly and/or disabled individuals. Patience and a positive attitude are required. Experience interacting with individuals who have dementia and other types of cognitive deficits would be beneficial. Companionship Volunteers will be trained for their duties by the Public Guardian staff.
open
Hours are flexible
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Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Volunteer. In Washoe County, there are more than 900 children each year who are thrust into the family court system as a result of abuse or neglect at home. Many of these children will live temporarily with foster parents while their own parents struggle to overcome addiction to alcohol or drugs, illness, financial hardship or other problems that placed the children at risk. CASA’s are volunteer citizens who step into children’s lives and offer trust, consistency and stability for the duration of legal proceedings. CASA’s are appointed by a judge to provide detailed information about a child and their unique needs. CASA volunteers typically handle one case at a time ---and commit to staying on that case until the child is placed in a safe, permanent home. By thoroughly investigating the child’s circumstances and reporting back to the court, a CASA volunteer helps shape the important decisions being made about a child’s future. The vision of the CASA Program is to provide an advocate for every abused child within the Washoe County Family Court system. This will give each child a better chance of returning to, or being placed in a safe and secure home as quickly as possible.
CASA volunteers must be 21 years or older, pass a background check, participate in a personal interview and complete a 40 hour training program.
Note: Screening of volunteers requires additional paperwork.
Volunteers must complete a 40 hour pre-service training program which is offered four times a year. Once assigned a case, CASA volunteers typically spend 10-15 hours a month on their case work.
NRS 432B.500 states the Court shall appoint a guardian ad litem after a petition is filed that a child is in need of protection. CASA’s serve as volunteer guardians ad litem.
Volunteers are needed to assist engineers in the design of varied and numerous Public Works projects including but not limited to sidewalks, pavement restoration, asset inventory and storm drainage.
Volunteers must be college students with an interest in the engineering field.
Minimum 3 hrs per week.
Work under the supervision of a professional engineer.
Some of the ways you can serve our efforts to find safe, stable foster and adoptive homes are:
• Distribute foster care posters, brochures, and materials to locations throughout the community.
• Learn about the process to become a licensed foster home and assist as part of the recruitment team, volunteering at local recruitment events.
• Assist in translating materials into Spanish to assist in recruitment of foster homes from the Latino community.
• Provide professional photography services for adoption recruitment photos for children and for photographs at the quarterly adoption days when adoptions are finalized.
• Assist in envelope stuffing for mailings to foster parents and for recruitment events.
• Join our faith based recruitment efforts as we develop the One Church One Child program led by a board of local ministers to recruit for foster and adoptive homes in local churches.
• Provide skill training for foster children and teens in special areas of knowledge such as art, drama, car repair, nutrition, etc. to assist them in self-development.
• Hosting a recruitment event at your home or business and inviting your friends, neighbors, or customers to learn about foster care and adoption.
Various
Washoe County's "Washoe Golf Course" is looking for volunteers to assist staff with the maintenance of the golf course grounds and planting beds.
Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age. A background check is required of all Washoe County volunteers.
Both weekday and weekend shifts are available. Work may be limited to the golf operating season.
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Washoe County's "Washoe Golf Course" is looking for Volunteer Marshals. Duties include: monitoring pace of play, educating golfers on golf rules and etiquette; communicating problems with players/equipment to the staff; providing customer service and answering golfer questions; light course care including replacing divots and raking sand traps.
Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age. A background check is required of all Washoe County volunteers.
Shifts may vary and length of duty depends on the golf operating season.
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The Alternate Public Defender`s office represents adults and juveniles charged with crimes, and assists parents in reunification efforts with their children.
The 15-person office is a tight-knit team, dedicated to providing zealous advocacy for our clients.
Volunteers would be welcome to help with filing, answering phones, breaking down and organizing files, helping the support staff, the investigators and the lawyers.
We also work with college and law students who are interested in interning in the office.
The minimum time requirement would be two hours a week.
Welcome to the Washoe County Library System and thank you for your interest in volunteering. We provide a wide range of public service opportunities.
The Washoe County Library believes that volunteer participation is an essential part of community development. We recognize the value of volunteerism and encourage citizen participation in all of the services we provide to the community.
Washoe County volunteer opportunities include, but are not limited to:
- General Library Operations: Caring for plants, Shelving books, magazines and other materials, Pulling books to fill requests, etc...
- Computer and Technical Assistance: Help at the Internet desk, Help patrons with catalog searches, Clear paper jams, Clean computer keyboards, etc...
- Materials Preparation and Repair: Mending, Repair video, cassettes, CDs, etc...
- Program Assistance: Program preparation, prepare outreach materials, setup/breakdown, assist in presenting some programs, etc...
- Special Projects: Interlibrary loan (ILL) cancellation letters, data entry, etc...
Volunteers under the age of 18 must have parental permission.
Varies
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The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is headquartered in the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, and currently includes over 750 units and approximately 175 thousand volunteers nationwide. The mission of the MRC is to improve the health and safety of communities by organizing and utilizing public health, medical and non-medical volunteers. The purpose of the MRC is to recruit, train, check backgrounds and credentials/licenses of individuals in order to be able to quickly respond to local public health emergencies.
If you are a licensed medical practitioner, someone with clinical training and experience, or someone with no medical background but the desire to help our community prepare for and respond to a public health emergency, the Washoe County Medical Reserve Corps needs you! In exchange for volunteering your time you will receive public health preparedness and emergency response training, required vaccinations, and annual flu shot, free of charge. Be informed. Be prepared. Be a Washoe County Medical Reserve Corps volunteer.
To become a member of the Washoe County Medical Reserve Corps, an individual must:
- Be at least 18 years of age
- Consent to a background check
- Have no felony convictions or any conviction related to moral turpitude
- Attend orientation
- Have current vaccinations for, or immunity to:
- measles, mumps and rubella;
- varicella (chickenpox);
- tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis; and
- influenza (Required vaccinations will be provided to the volunteer free of charge.)
The expected first-year time commitment is 18 hours; for basic orientation, training and participation in one full-scale exercise. Additional classroom trainings and community events will be offered to those volunteers who wish to participate; however, this is not required to remain a member. If an emergency occurs requiring activation of our unit, volunteers can expect to be called-up for one 8-12 hour shift per day, for three consecutive days.
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MRC members include medical practitioners, such as physicians, pharmacists, nurses, veterinarians, and mental health professionals; and public health professionals, such as administrators, health educators, and communicable disease and environmental health specialists. Non medical/clinical personnel are needed to fill other key roles, such as managers, clerical support, interpreters, and drivers.
Volunteers are needed to assist staff with park maintenance and operations. Duties may include but are not limited to picking up litter, weeding, raking leaves, removing graffiti, reporting park hazards, planting, and general beautification.
Open to all ages and abilities. Volunteers under the age of 14 must have parental supervision.
Hours are flexible, and commitment can range from a couple of hours a month to every week.
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The Washoe County Public Defender`s Office has 54 full-time employees, including 33 attorneys. We have 7 full-time Investigators, a Mitigation Specialist, and an amazing support staff.
The Office sponsors an in-house scholarship program for the National Criminal Defense College, one of the most prestigious criminal defense training programs in the country.
Along with innovative and aggressive trial work, the Washoe County Public Defender`s Office also strives to be a community-based organization. We provide educational services to the community on various topics including accessing mental health resources and dealing with police encounters.
Opportunities to volunteer currently exist for people interested in assisting with various office duties that may include data entry, filing, copying, and organizing.
Minimum time commitment of 2-hour block per week.
For more information please contact:
Valerie Vaughn 337-4830 vvaughn@washoecounty.us
or Carrie Garlington 337-4842 cgarlington@washoecounty.us
Volunteers are needed to assist Washoe County Parks staff in monitoring trails and paths. Help pick up litter, record and report any safety issues, misuse, damage, graffiti, vandalism or any other issues to a designated parks staff member while walking and hiking the trails. We will also ask you to track and report your time to the Volunteer Coordinator.
We welcome everyone's help!
At your convenience.
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Transitional Housing Volunteers will assist the Adult Social Services Staff in supporting the residents in activities at the Washoe County Transitional Housing Project.
flexible
The Washoe County Food Policy Council was created as an effort to improve networking, collaboration, and promotion of access to healthy foods in Washoe County. Established by the Washoe County District Board of Health in October 2011, the Washoe County Food Policy Council will be charged with implementing the goals of the Washoe County Food Plan, Access to Health Food in Washoe County: A Framework for Food System Design.
Council members must have expertise in one or more food system related issues. Council members must also have the ability to work together to create policy and sustainable change while taking into consideration the impact on the entire local food system. There are a total of ten (10) Council positions representing diverse sectors of the local food system and the community at large:
- Community Food Planning
- Consumers
- Food and Nutrition Data Systems Surveillance and Monitoring
- Food Distribution
- Food Preparation
- Food Production
- Member at Large (3 positions)
- Public Food Programs
Commitment to term of up to two-years requiring regular attendance and participation in meetings and active membership on at least one potential subcommittee of the Council that will generate a work plan with specific goals.
Established by the Washoe County District Board of Health in October 2011.