Ways to serve during COVID
Featured Volunteer/serving Opportunities
MANNA needs volunteers to deliver meals in Philly to the homes of families facing food insecurity: A car is required, and each shift takes 1-2 hours. Learn more and sign up here! https://serve.volunteermatch.org/search/opp3278574.jsp
MANNA also needs chefs! If you like to cook, this is an excellent opportunity to prepare meals for families in need! No car needed. Learn more and sign up at: https://serve.volunteermatch.org/search/opp3278474.jsp
READ TO ME is a read aloud book video series presented by PCCY’s Picasso Project. The goal of READ TO ME is to provide children with a curated selection of books for all ages read by caring, experienced adults. PCCY is building a free YouTube “library” of read aloud books to share with children in Philadelphia and across the internet. Videos can be found on PCCY’s YouTube Page. They are seeking volunteers to create short (~5 minute) videos of themselves reading a favorite children’s book. Books for all ages, in all languages, are welcome. If you would like to participate, send an email to Tim Gibbon at timg@pccy.org.
Volunteer to help with the Philadelphia’s Philly food partnership: With community partners SHARE and Philabundance, the City of Philadelphia is beginning a food distribution program to respond to increasing need among Philadelphia residents due to the impact of COVID-19. They are in need of volunteers to pack boxes of perishable and shelf stable food at the warehouse. (Note, you will need to make a free volunteermatch profile to sign up).
Volunteer Databases
Additional Volunteer Opportunities
Learn about and consider joining the Philadelphia Medical Reserve Corps: Mayor Kenney has put out a call for more people to serve Philadelphia through the Medical Reserve Corps as we navigate COVID. There are all sorts of available volunteer opportunities. Check it out here
Philabundance needs volunteers! Philabundance is an incredible organization fighting food insecurity in Philadelphia. They are in need of volunteers to sort and pack donated food and prepare it for distribution. Philabundance has restructured their volunteer shifts and procedures to comply with appropriate social distancing standards, and volunteering with Philabundance is included in the allowable activities under Governor Wolf’s statewide stay-at-home order
Share Food Program needs Volunteer drivers for their Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP): CFSP brings monthly nutritious food boxes to senior citizens in the Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Bucks county areas, and they are specifically in needs of drivers to drop off food boxes at this time. They also need volunteer callers to let recipients know their box is on the way.
Run an errand for a neighbor in need through the Neighbors helping Neighbors, “a Black, Brown, & Native-led group of community members & organizers involved with radical social justice organizations around the city. We are neighbors concerned about our communities and helping to make sure those most vulnerable and affected by COVID-19 get the help they need.” They have created a free mutual aid service for Philadelphians.
Grocery LifeLine- a Partnership with Project HOME! Project HOME is an incredible organization that works for our city’s homeless population. Many individuals who have experienced chronic street homelessness have underlying medical conditions and/or are elderly, making them especially vulnerable when they leave their shelters to obtain food. The goal of this project is to help with the purchase and delivery of food for these residents. On this website, you will find profiles for individual residents,as well as their grocery lists, and can facilitate safely getting food to them.
Sign up to be a Virtual Reading Coach for children in grades 1-3 through RSVP and the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern NJ: With schools closed, students need free and accessible support. You can sign up for 30 minutes sessions to volunteer as a virtual reading/literacy coach at your scheduling convenience; online training and resources provided. Application required
Take a moment to show love to some of the most resilient adolescents you’ll ever meet.
Anxiety and suicidal ideation are on the rise in the setting of the pandemic, especially in the adolescent populations. Take a moment to send a word of encouragement to adolescents at Covenant House.
Volunteer as a Philly food rescue App driver to bring food from donors to recipient partners
The Philly Food Rescue app:
Alerts users to nearby pick-ups
Allows users to select rescues
Directs users to pick up and drop off locations
Helps users log pick up contents and collect signatures from recipients
Allows direct communication with food recipients and Philly Food Rescue dispatchers
The Physicians for Social Responsibility Philadelphia/PA is looking for physicians to become CodeRed PA Gun Violence Coalition committee members to help address the rise in gun violence in Philadelphia during COVID-19. While many other reported crime rates in Philadelphia have dropped during this time, shootings have increased in Philadelphia by 22% during this time. Committees include Policy and Advocacy, Outreach and Training, If interested in learning more you can email <celeen@psrphila.org>; to learn more about the Physicians for Social Responsibility Philadelphia/PA, check out https://www.psrphila.org/home. There is also a great op-ed on gun violence in Philly during COVID that you can read here.