Volunteer Opportunities

Objective:  To encourage volunteers to use their gifts and talents to enhance LTLC’s mission of serving the homeless and the poor in the Greater Lowell area.  To create opportunities for volunteers to utilize the expertise they possess in their chosen fields, to enhance the performance of LTLC staff and the lives of our guests & diners. 

Hands-On Volunteering

  1. Serving a meal in our kitchen at supper time

  2. Donations
    -- Managing a Donation Department, which would include soliciting supplies to keep our
        shelves stocked

  3. Front Desk & Staffing
    -- Helping the Front Desk Staff to intake new residents
    -- Check-in existing guests
    -- Be a presence in the new building (which has 4 floors for shelter use) as we transition each
        evening from the old building to the new building
    -- Answering the phones
     

  4. -- Tracking our diners (as required by our various funding sources) as they come in to eat

  5. Old Building  Renovation Services
    -- Helping to rehab parts of the kitchen facilities
    -- Gutting and Remodeling the bathroom off of the kitchen

Use of a Volunteer’s Professional Expertise

  1. Accounting
    -- Help our Business Manager reconcile the books on a monthly basis
    -- Re-do our Accounting Filing System

  2. Fundraising
    -- Work with our fundraising committee on various events
    -- Work with one of our Board Members on developing our Corporate Partnership Program

  3. Legal Expertise
    -- Review of all of our Shelter documentation to insure confidentiality, etc.
    -- Review of all of our Personnel procedures

  4. Become a Board Member

  5. Administrative Assistant
    -- Help maintain our donor database
    -- Help with mass mailings
    -- Re-do our administrative filing system 

  6. Grant Research & Writing
    -- Research grants that are available that are unique to our services
    -- Help write grants to increase our funding

  7. Staff Development
    -- Provide staff trainings/workshops in your chosen field (computers, mental health issues, legal issues, etc.)
    -- Provide staff enrichment trainings/workshops to enhance staff’s personal life (stress-reduction, avoidance of burn-out, health issues, etc.)

  8. Resident Development
    -- Provide trainings to our shelter guests in areas that will enhance their lives (job skills, resume writing, computer literacy, interviewing skills, etc.)

  9. Volunteer Training & Development
    -- Coordinate a Volunteer Program with on-going training within your group or to be used agency-wide