There’s never been a better time to be a volunteer. Why? The needs are there but the volunteers are not. By most measures, volunteerism in America is declining while the need for volunteers is increasing.
Consider that the median age of a US home is 37 years. In the Northeast, it’s even older with the median hovering somewhere around the 57-year mark. That means there’s a pretty good chance that a single-parent family, elderly people, or a disabled person is living in a home that needs work.
The same applies to cars: The average vehicle in the US is now somewhere in the vicinity of 12 years. That means it’s more than likely that those who are the least able to afford a new car or keep a car in good repair are likely driving a jalopy.
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Finally, population density is increasing and being clustered in even rural areas such that hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, blizzards, and fires can take a devastating toll. And the population is quickly getting older, too, with nearly 17 percent of the US population being 65 or older. That will rise to approximately 25 percent in the next several years. How well do you think a 70-year-old widow is going to cope with having her home wrecked by a hurricane or tornado? It’s hard enough when you’re 40, but 70?
I made my first foray as a volunteer in 1968. I was just a kid but I loved it, and it made a lasting impression on me. I can tell you that not all help to deal with natural disasters, aging cars, decrepit housing, or even routine projects can come from paid providers. Some of it has to come from volunteers. Here’s how you can help.
How You Start Volunteering
Nothing prevents you from taking the initiative. If you notice an elderly neighbor’s sidewalk is snow covered, you can knock on their door and ask if they want it shoveled. By the way, always ask—their grandkids might already be on their way over to help. Even if that’s the case, you might be just the person to organize a snow-shoveling squad in your town. Just one case of many is this setup in the Midwest, where both the elderly who need shoveling and volunteer shovelers can access the same site in Evanston, Illinois.
We’re using something as simple as snow shoveling only as an example. There are countless other ways the DIY savvy can get their hands dirty helping folks. One of the best ways to link your skills and with a need is to visit VolunteerMatch. Click on the Find Opportunities button and scan through the 29 causes that the site lists. You can also apply filters such as the distance from where you live to help sort through the various opportunities.
What Makes a Great Volunteer
If you’ve never volunteered, you may wonder whether you have what it takes. Chances are you do, and you’ll probably be great at it. So I asked Steve Weiner, a retired executive who became a house repair crew chief at Rebuilding Together on Long Island, NY, what he looks for in a volunteer, and he replied, simply, “Willingness.” In the last seven years, he’s worked on 300 or so houses. “Willingness,” Weiner repeated, “that’s the most important thing. It’s always great to get someone on a crew who has skills but, willingness to do pretty much anything, that’s more important.”
And “anything” describes a typical day for Weiner’s crew working in Long Island’s populous Suffolk and Nassau counties. Any day may find the crew replacing a rotted front door or cleaning gutters. Weiner shared a list of some of the group’s chores and it read like a Greatest Hits issue of Popular Mechanics, covering everything from repairing loose handrails, to repairing cracked or rotted floor joists, and re-attaching drywall or plaster that’s breaking free from walls and ceilings. Another specialty of his crew is building wheelchair ramps. When working with licensed plumbing and electrical contractors, they may even tackle something as daunting as installing a new boiler or replacing a home’s electrical service panel.
The volunteers that he works with range from highly skilled and licensed plumbers, electricians, and carpenters to experienced do-it-yourselfers, or rookies who can barely swing a hammer. Sometimes, the projects can be daunting. “You have to be willing to roll with the punches,” Weiner advises. “You start out to replace a rotted door sill, then you find rotted concrete under that, and maybe a rotted door jamb. Before you know it, you’re replacing the door. There are probably 75 things that have to happen for you to replace that door.”
The work is hard but the crew’s camaraderie keeps him coming back for more. “Everybody becomes friends,” Weiner says. And then there’s the satisfaction of helping somebody who desperately needs it. “It’s not unusual for somebody to tell us, ‘you’ve changed my life.’”
To the volunteer qualities that Weiner lists, Brian Schwartz adds patience and compassion. When the pandemic knocked him out of work, the marketing executive went looking to do some good rather than sit at home and sulk in between searching for jobs. He founded, “I Want to Mow Your Lawn” a volunteer lawn mowing service for the elderly, disabled, and others who need a hand with an unruly yard. Now you can go to the organization’s website to find people in your area who needs their lawn mowed.
“It’s important to help others,” Schwartz, says, adding “It helps you, too. Volunteering fosters a sense of community and belonging. It can help you learn new skills and boosts your self esteem.”
Great Organizations
There’s no shortage of great ways to lend a helping hand, from mowing a lawn, to fixing or building a house, to fixing up a car. For the mechanically-inclined person, there are lots of unmet needs that you can help meet.
Here are a few examples of folks putting their talent to work to help others. Some of these organizations have local affiliates that you can join. The organizations that don’t have local chapters serve as an example of meeting a need and, perhaps, a template that you might follow.
If you like to work on houses, you might have a match here. The organization helps improve and repair homes. It also aids in disaster recovery.
In some respects, Habitat for Humanity is the headwaters of the ambitious DIY volunteer movement in this country. It was founded in 1976 and, by 2013, had built 800,000 homes. It does everything from building and renovating houses to assisting in disaster relief.
A veteran-led humanitarian organization, Team Rubicon’s primary work is disaster aid and recovery. If you have a taste for adventure and service, Team Rubicon may be a good fit.
Even if you’re not cut out for swinging a sledge hammer, you can still help. Chances are pretty good that kids near you are sleeping on the floor. This organization’s aim is to solve that problem by not just building them beds, but getting them bedding. Check the website to see if there’s a chapter where you live—and how to start a chapter if there isn’t one.
This faith-based initiative is limited to the Fargo-Moorhead area of North Dakota, but it serves as an outstanding example of how skilled and ambitious gear heads can help put needy people on the road by repairing or replacing their car. They’ve already repaired and donated 300 cars and have launched a campaign to donate 1,000 cars.
Senior Home Editor
Roy Berendsohn has worked for more than 25 years at Popular Mechanics, where he has written on carpentry, masonry, painting, plumbing, electrical, woodworking, blacksmithing, welding, lawn care, chainsaw use, and outdoor power equipment. When he’s not working on his own house, he volunteers with Sovereign Grace Church doing home repair for families in rural, suburban and urban locations throughout central and southern New Jersey.
