Top Places to Give Back To This Holiday Season

As the fall and winter holidays approach, many New Jersey residents are looking for places to volunteer. Whether you want to offer your time, money, or resources, Trenton has many suitable places for you to help. You’ll find plenty of ways to serve the community, no matter what you have to offer. These are just a few of the volunteer opportunities in and near Trenton.

Trenton Area Soup Kitchen

Image by Ismael Paramo is licensed with Unsplash License

The Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, or TASK, always has a need for volunteers. During the holiday season, many people sign up to serve community members a warm meal. The TASK gives nutritious meals for free without asking any questions of patrons. The highest priority for the organization is to feed community members, but it also encourages self-sufficiency.

Volunteers don’t need to have any special training to participate this season. Volunteer opportunities include serving meals and cooking in the kitchen. Additionally, TASK has spots for those who would like to provide tutoring services. Children, teens, and college students can also volunteer. If you aren’t able to volunteer on-site this year, you can also lend a hand by baking at home, donating non-perishable food items, and making meal bags.

Womanspace

Womanspace is a Lawrenceville-based organization that focuses on emergency and safety services for women, men, children, and teens impacted by domestic and sexual violence. The holiday season can be an especially tough time for many people in abusive homes, primarily due to financial stress. If you’re interested in helping families deal with crises that arise during the holiday season, or any time of the year, you can support this organization that offers emergency services, counseling, victim support, education, and housing assistance.

Volunteer opportunities include working in the administrative office, educating the community, volunteering at events, providing legal services, and implementing fundraising plans. You can also contact the organization if you have specific skills that may improve the services it provides.

Trenton Cats Rescue

Trenton Cats Rescue is a non-profit organization in Trenton that welcomes volunteers. Cat rescue centers need volunteers throughout the year, but they can be particularly valuable during the holiday season when people become busier with family events. Additionally, many people experience economic and social difficulties during the holiday season, which means that more cats may find themselves in need of extra support or a new home.

You can help Trenton Cats Rescue by helping to socialize the cats. You can also clean cages and make sure that animals have access to food, water, and litter. Volunteers also provide transportation for pets to and from adoption events and vet appointments. Volunteers may participate in community education, photography, and listing cats online. If you’re interested, you can even foster or financially sponsor a cat.

Rescue Mission of Trenton

The Rescue Mission of Trenton aims to connect the community by offering shelter, behavioral health support, vocational development, housing, and food to those in need. The goal of the organization is to end homelessness, which is an issue that can grow more dire during the winter months. As the weather cools down, those experiencing homelessness may face environmental dangers and greater hunger.

As a volunteer, you can help the Rescue Mission in several different ways. The organization asks for support from people with experience of serving food, marketing, teaching meditation, providing community outreach, writing, cooking, and financial planning. The Mission also requests assistance from those with experience in social media, project management, GED training, smoking cessation, and health support.

HomeFront

The HomeFront organization focuses on providing meals for families living in motels. For many people, poverty and homelessness become more severe during the winter months. For this reason, volunteers are more important than ever as the holidays approach. This organization feeds people who may be struggling, but the group also provides access to other helpful resources.

HomeFront volunteers collect food items that the organization distributes as part of the Thanksgiving Drive. Additionally, volunteers can donate money and other resources that go toward making food baskets. HomeFront also welcomes volunteers who have skills in project management, photography, videography, marketing, writing, and event planning. Children are also welcome to participate in volunteer opportunities with adult guardians.

EASEL Animal Rescue

EASEL Animal Rescue is a New Jersey-based organization that protects local animals. Wintry weather can make life harder for homeless animals, including cats and dogs. Additionally, many families find themselves unable to care for their pets as the holidays approach and the economic challenges begin to stack up.

Several types of volunteer opportunities are available at EASEL. Some volunteers work in organizational support, which involves fundraising, event promotion, donation collection, grant writing, and event organizing. Other volunteers care for the animals. They participate in dog and cat socializing, placing barn cats, walking dogs, participating in adoption events, and grooming pets. You can also help potential adoptive parents find a furry friend that works for them.

Serenity Hospice Care

Serenity Hospice Care is an organization that offers peace of mind to those in the final stages of life. For many families, the holidays are especially difficult because a loved one’s health may be limited. In other cases, the holidays are very emotional because a family member has recently passed away. Volunteers can provide relief and comfort to make these situations more peaceful.

Volunteers provide support for families. They may visit families to provide companionship or a sympathetic ear. In other cases, volunteers sit with patients while family members run errands or take care of things at home. Volunteers can choose a schedule that works best for them, and you may be able to provide support in other ways if you have additional skills.

If you’re eager to spread holiday cheer in the form of compassion and useful resources this year, you’ll need reliable transportation. Hyundai of Trenton offers a variety of used and new vehicles that can help you transport resources and spread goodwill, including by lending a hand as a volunteer. Test-drive one of our vehicles today to make sure that you have the transportation you need to get to your next volunteer stop.