Team 16 - Northwest Side Housing Center
The Northwest Side Housing Center is a community-based, non-profit organozation that engages, educates and empowers the community to improve housing for all. We accomplish our mission through housing counseling, financial education,community organizing,outreach,advocacy and supportive services.
Last year we did an event called "Take Back Your Block" where we cleaned up vacant properties with DePaul volunteers and the DePaul girls basketball team. We are excited to be able to host this event again in 2013. The northwest side is seeing an increase in vacant properties that are not being kept up so we are taking back our blocks and making sure they are being cleaned.
Total Volunteers: 30
Team 17 - PAWS Chicago
The PAWS Chicago Lurie Spay/Neuter Clinic is the largest free spay/neuter clinic in Chicago and the nation. Since the Lurie Clinic opened in 2001,
60% of the reduction of euthanasia of homeless dogs and cats in Chicago can be attributed to fewer animals entering shelters. This is an important
aspect to accomplishing PAWS' Mission which is to help make Chicago a No-KIll city. This year they will perform over 18,000 surgeries.
Clothing/Attire preferences:
- Rubber-soled, closed toe shoes/sneakers (a MUST)
- All clothes should be washable; please wear long pants; long sleeved-shirts (requested, not required)
- Avoid wearing perfume/cologne as some pets react negatively to new odors and avoid wearing dangling jewelry
Total Volunteers: 15
Team 18 - Roots and Rays Community Garden
Raizes y Rayos Community Garden in Pilsen is a group of gardeners who have started a vegetable garden in a formerly empty lot at the corner of
Cullerton and Laflin in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. We are looking to expand our group by connecting with the community in order to grow our membership, grow more locally produced food, and to plant the seed of community gardening in Pilsen. Our mission is to provide education and awareness about the need for local sustainable food systems; to provide healthy organic produce for the community; and to provide a safe, green space in an otherwise environmentally unsound area.
Volunteers will assist Roots and Rays Community Garden in lot improvements and food cultivation to benefit the Pilsen neighborhood. Volunteers will be assisting in painting and repair of buildings, benches and other garden structures. They will also assist in lot improvements such as debris removal and mulching. Volunteers will also assist in harvesting and planting food for a local soup kitchen, as well as assisting with compost and water collection projects.
Clothing/Attire preferences:
Volunteers should come dressed for working outside, in clothes that they don't mind getting dirt and paint on! Closed-toe shoes are a must. Come wearing sunscreen! We do not have running drinking water on site, so volunteers should bring water bottles.
Total Volunteers: 10
Team 19 - Sage Community Health
Sage is a worker-owned health collective of three health and healing practitioners who have dedicated our lives to social justice, community building, and healing. With years of collective experience as activists, we have born witness to fatigue and burnout among our colleagues and ourselves. This has inspired us to begin the process of healing ourselves as we strive to facilitate healing in others. As a community health collective offering harm reductionist and trauma-informed healing services, honoring your self-determination and consent is a part of everything we do, from the moment you enter our doorway to the time you make your next appointment.
Total Volunteers: 20
Team 20 - St. Aloysius Catholic Church
St. Aloysius Parish has been active in the communities of Humboldt Park, Wicker Park, and Bucktown for over 125 years. It has recently opened a new parish community center, The Monsignor Thiele Center, which hosts a number of programs, among those being a youth ministry, food pantry,
ESL classes, and daycare.
Volunteers will work along side parishioners to plant flowers around the church and center, assist in the creation of a parish garden, clean up litter in the neighborhood, and assist our maintenance worker in other miscellaneous jobs within the church and center.
Clothing/Attire preferences:
Gloves and gardening clothes preferred. Gloves can be provided if forgotten.
Total Volunteers: 25
Team 21 - Streetwise
StreetWise is a workforce development agency designed to help the homeless and those at risk of homelessness out of the crisis of poverty. The StreetWise model combines supportive social services, (focused on employment training; housing placement; and financial literacy) with the opportunity for gainful self-employment, in order to assist participants on the road to stability and self-sufficiency. For close to twenty years StreetWise has allowed individuals in crisis immediate access to a legitimate earned income. From its inception, StreetWise has been a refuge and resource for men and women seeking a dignified means of addressing the crisis of poverty.
Total Volunteers: 14
Team 22 - Universidad Popular
Universidad Popular (UP) Universidad Popular opens its door and provides the resources for community residents to become actively engaged in community empowerment. UP's mission is to reach community empowerment through participatory learning. UP is dedicated to teaching within context that facilitates growth as human beings and contributes to the movement for social justice in Chicago's Little Village and the world. Volunteering at UP provides a unique learning and hands-on educational experience. Our volunteers enjoy the exposure to the local cuisine, opportunity to practice Spanish, and participation in many cultural events.
Volunteers will assist with gardening activities in UP's community garden.
Total Volunteers: 5
Team 23 - Zakat Foundation of America
ZF fosters charitable giving to alleviate the immediate needs of poor communities and to establish long-term development projects that ensure individual and community growth worldwide. The ZF Chicago south-side community center provides education and mentoring opportunities to aid in the individuals ability to live their best life.
THIS VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN ONLY.
Spring Refresh for women only. A day of pamper and health education for women.
Volunteers will assist with clothing giveaway, community gardening, distribution of health materials and hosting.
Total Volunteers: 10
Team 24 - Rebuilding Exchange
Our mission is to create a market for reclaimed building materials. We do this by diverting materials from landfills and making them accessible for
reuse through our retail warehouse, by promoting sustainable deconstruction practices, by providing education and job training programs, and by
creating innovative models for sustainable reuse.
Precut garden bed kits and other tasks.
Complete app at http://rebuildingexchange.org/volunteer
Put DEPAUL VINCENTIAN in capital letters in the how did you hear about us section
Clothing/Attire preferences:Warehouse attire. Hair pulled back. No dangly jewelry. Layers as temp varies in the warehouse.
Total Volunteers: 30
Team 25 - St. Joseph Services
St Joseph Services is a non profit that provides Adult Education Humboldt Park, Avondale and Midway area communities, as well as in the suburbs of
Downers Grove and Des Plaines. Our Adult Education program includes ESL, ABE, pre-GED, computer literacy and citizenship classes. We serve
more than 120 adult students at all of our sites combined.
We also provide Youth Education in Austin and Humboldt Park . We work to provide homework help and mentoring to children in pre-k through 8th
grade. We currently serve more than two hundred and fifty children at both of our sites combined.
Volunteers will be helping with cleanup at San Miguel School. Volunteers will also be assisting with gardening.
Clothing/Attire preferences: Clothes that you do not mind getting a little dirty. T-shirt, jeans and gym shoes.
Total Volunteers: 10
Team 26 - North Lawndale YMCA
The Y is the nation's leading nonprofit committed to strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.
spring cleaning - wash windows and walls, sanitize toys and equipment, general outdoor clean-up. Volunteers are requested to bring work gloves,
buckets, scrub brushes, sponges and cleaning solutions
Clothing/Attire preferences: work clothing, closed-toed shoes
Total Volunteers: 15
Team 27 - Our Lady of Charity
Our Lady of Charity serves pre-school through 8th grade students in the Cicero community. Through education, we empower children to become
"saints and scholars, disciples of Christ and leaders in the community." Volunteers will have the opportunity to work on a variety of school improvement projects, including painting and landscaping.
Volunteers will work on a variety of school improvement projects. Examples include painting and landscaping.
Total Volunteers: 10
Team 28 - Cornerstone Community Outreach
Mission Statement:
Cornerstone Community Outreach (CCO) was created in 1989 as a non-profit organization to raise the quality of life for low-income residents of
Chicago through social, educational and economic development programs. These programs include the development and preservation of decent, affordable housing for the poor, job training and creation, educational and social programs, and the feeding and sheltering of the homeless.
Volunteers will work along side staff in processing donated items. This can be labor intensive and involve climbing stairs. Some may work on other projects as needed.
Clothing/Attire preferences:
Work clothing that the volunteer would not mind if it got dirty. Closed toed shoes are a must.
Total Volunteers: 15
Team 29 - Office of Adult Student Affairs
DePaul University's Office of Adult Student Affairs assists adult students in their pursuit of academic success. We serve students who are 24 years+,
any graduate student, and any student Veteran of DePaul. We create programs and refer them to services that will help them achieve their academic
goals.
The Office of Adult Student Affairs is working with the Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center to provide childcare for the Conference for Students
with Children taking place on May 4th. There will be a maximum of 20 children at one time, between 10 am and 1 pm. Volunteers would work with
the older children on a writing project (sending letters to Veterans or people in jail).
Total Volunteers: 5
Team 30 - Ozanam Village/Matthew Manor
Catholic Charities works to support families, reduce poverty, and build communities. Ozanam Village and Matthew Manor are two affordable housing
residences for senior citizens located on the same campus.
Volunteers will be cleaning inside and outside and participating in activities with the seniors living at the residence (board games, arts and crafts, etc.).
Total Volunteers: 20