Best Places to Volunteer in Marion, IL

The city of Marion, Illinois, is home to numerous nonprofit organizations and impactful charities that strive to make the area better for everyone. To fulfill their mission, these organizations rely on volunteers. If you’re looking for a way to make a difference in the area, learn more about each one of these organizations and how you can help.

Boyton Street Community Center

“Volunteers Search Application” used with permission via Pixabay by geralt

501 W. Boyton St.

Established in 1987, the Boyton Street Community Center offers opportunities for children and families through a caring and rich environment. It works closely with local social service agencies to provide a variety of services pertaining to education, development, and building self-esteem.

Two of its most popular offerings are its free lunch program and the After-School All-Stars Program. Volunteers are needed to help with the After-School All-Stars Program, especially for tutoring and homework help. If you work well with children, can be a positive role model, and can help children learn, consider volunteering with the program. Most volunteers opt to help one day a week from Monday through Thursday from 3:30 until 5 p.m.

Hospice of Southern Illinois

204 Halfway Road

Founded in 1981, the Hospice of Southern Illinois provides hospice services to terminally ill patients and their families in southern Illinois. This nonprofit group’s core values include dignity and integrity, and these help it stay true to its mission of giving each patient the compassionate care deserved. It knows that dealing with terminal illnesses isn’t always easy, so it offers 24-hour support for families, including weekends and holidays. It takes pride in connecting directly with patients and their families, giving them the reassurance they need throughout the entire process.

Volunteers are always welcome, and they work side-by-side with the professional staff to give support to patients and their families. They provide an ear to listen and a hand to hold. Other ways you can volunteer include making gifts for patients, planning a fundraiser, or making phone calls.

Lighthouse Shelter

1101 N. Madison St.

A faith-based organization, the Lighthouse Shelter promotes the general welfare of the homeless in southern Illinois. It seeks to break the cycle of homelessness by addressing the needs of homeless people in Williamson County. The organization, which began in 2007, fosters relationships with the local community and social services to meet the needs of shelter, food, and health care. It also offers case management services that help homeless individuals secure employment and permanent housing.

In addition to monetary donations, the nonprofit organization is always in need of volunteers. Some of the tasks you could help with include the following:

• Reception duties.
• Housekeeping.
• Janitorial.
• Tutoring children.
• Clerical work.
• Laundry tasks.
• Mentoring.
• Kitchen clean-up.
• Meal preparation.

Marion Medical Mission

1412 Shawnee Dr.

Tom Logan is one of the founders of the Marion Medical Mission. When he was growing up, his family opened their home to refugees from numerous countries. After he completed high school in the 1960s, he traveled throughout Africa and encountered apartheid in South Africa and witnessed starvation in Ethiopia. He and his wife Jocelyn founded the Marion Medical Mission in 1985, establishing its original goal of supporting surgical training in remote African hospitals.

That year, a team of five volunteers traveled to three rural mission hospitals in the Democratic Republic of Congo and performed major operations. Another group went to hospitals in Ghana and also performed surgeries. The Logans found that these hospitals lacked safe drinking water, so they shifted the nonprofit’s goal from curative medicine to preventative medicine by providing functioning wells. Today, the nonprofit builds more than 3,000 wells each year, and all donations it receives go toward supporting its mission.

The organization is always looking for volunteers to spread its mission. Some of the ways that you can help include the following:

• Delivering presentations on the goals of the nonprofit.
• Creating a fundraiser such as hosting a car wash, selling water bottles, organizing a 5K race, or organizing a benefit concert.
• Reaching out to individuals and asking for support.

Southern Illinois Coalition for the Homeless

1009 W. Cherry St.

According to the organization, more than 550,000 people are homeless in the United States. Many of those homeless individuals in southern Illinois have children and seek a place to sleep in shelters, tents, or their vehicles. The Southern Illinois Coalition for the Homeless strives to help people dealing with homelessness by offering them assistance through affordable housing options as well as a variety of services. Some of these services include:

• Transportation assistance.
• Case management and advocacy.
• Mental health and substance abuse counseling.
• Parenting support.
• Life skills and financial skills education.
• Housing counseling.

Because the organization offers so many services, it relies on volunteers to help reach as many people as possible. Volunteers are needed to help with its food distribution program, which provides boxes of food to those in need. It also hosts fundraising events throughout the year in which volunteers can assist. The organization is in constant need of donations.

United Way of Southern Illinois

1800 W. Boulevard, Suite D

Serving 14 counties in southern Illinois, the United Way of Southern Illinois has a goal of helping children and families in southern Illinois obtain better outcomes through education, health, and income. It focuses on community impact via corporate partnerships, legislative advocacy, technology, and resources. Each spring, the organization raises and distributes money to solve long-term community problems.

To fulfill its mission and reach as many people as possible in all those counties, the organization relies on volunteer involvement. Volunteering allows you to network with community and business leaders, gives you knowledge about how nonprofits operate and enhances your team-building skills.

Are you ready to get out and help one of these organizations? What do you think of this list of volunteer spots in Marion that Ike Honda highlighted? Did we mention all the organizations you know of, or did we miss one? If so, please contact us so we can add it to our list. We want to give people as many places to help as possible, so reach out to us and we will make sure to provide information on how everyone can help.