When it comes to being a volunteer, we all have the best of intentions. We find causes we’re passionate about, we talk to our kids about the importance of giving back, and we plan to get involved. But with school, sports, work, and family events, good intentions are sometimes as far as we get. In fact, there are days that “volunteering” for our families is nearly all we can manage.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t follow through with our good intentions. Sometimes it just takes finding the right volunteer opportunity. And that’s where Give A Day RVA comes in.

Sure, it’s great to have an ongoing volunteer role, but it’s more important to do what we can when we can. Organized by HandsOn Greater Richmond, a local volunteer network, Give A Day RVA is an annual event that brings hundreds of volunteers from across the Greater Metro Richmond region together for a single day to complete projects that have a lasting impact throughout the year. Dozens of local organizations identify service projects, from gardening to painting and beyond, then, as a local volunteer, you get the chance to help them get the job done.

Join hundreds of your Richmond neighbors for Give A Day RVA on September 29, 2018, and volunteer to make a difference.

Whether you want to volunteer as an individual, as a family, or as a team, there is something for every skill level and age. Best of all, getting involved is easy.

How can you be involved as a volunteer with Give A Day RVA?

The process is simple. Registration is now open online and getting signed up is as simple as clicking a few buttons based on your charitable interests, your geographic area, and the types of projects in which you and/or your family or team are most interested.

First, check out the complete list of available service projects. Once you’ve identified opportunities that interest you, simply follow the steps outlined for each individual volunteer spot. Each volunteer opportunity will provide a description of the work needed, outline the age requirements, provide the number of spaces available, and offer any other pertinent information. Simply follow the instructions from there!

Who are some of the organizations you can volunteer for?  

The following organizations have submitted projects to Give A Day. Click the links below to learn more about each organization and find the causes or projects that mean the most to you and your family.

Boaz & Ruth

Boaz & Ruth is a non-profit, faith-based initiative that uses innovative social to rebuild lives and communities through relationships, jobs, and economic revitalization.

Boys & Girls Club of Metro Richmond

Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Richmond works to create environments for students to thrive and for community members to come together.

Charles City County

Charles City County is located in the Richmond Metro area just east of Richmond and west of Jamestown, with a southern border on the James River and an eastern border on the Chickahominy River.

Children’s Museum of Richmond

The mission of the Children’s Museum of Richmond is to inspire growth in all children by engaging families in learning through play. They offer four locations in Richmond, Chesterfield, Short Pump, and Fredericksburg.

Chimborazo Playground Community Garden

Located in downtown Richmond near the Chimborazo Playground, community members and donations provide supplies, beautification, plantings, and events at this beloved community garden.

Circle Center Adult Day Services

Circle Center Adult Day Services provides comprehensive and individualized quality care for older adults during the day, enabling them to live at home and providing assurance and respite for family caregivers.

City of Richmond 5th District Office

Led by the Honorable Parker C. Agelasto, Richmond 5^th District is located in central Richmond.

City of Richmond Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities

Richmond’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Community Facilities provides recreation and leisure programs for the citizens and visitors to the City of Richmond and strives to preserve, protect, maintain and improve all of its natural resources, parkland, community facilities and recreational opportunities for current and future generations.

City of Richmond Neighbor to Neighbor

Neighbor-To-Neighbor (N2N) recruits both city and non-city residents to serve as volunteers, leveraging service as a strategy to “Build One Richmond.”

Community Food Collaborative

This is a community-driven organization that challenges families to reimagine their relationship with farms and food and teaches youth to apply academic content while cultivating social, emotional and intellectual skills. Families are empowered to eat, learn and grow together through the experience of nutritious, delicious fresh food right in their own neighborhood.

Crater Community Hospice

Crater Community Hospice educates the community on serious illness and end of life concerns and provides families and patients with quality care and supportive services.

Friends of McDonough Community Garden

This 8,500 square foot community garden is located in a USDA denoted food desert in southside Richmond with a mission to promote urban agriculture, horticultural therapy, and environmental stewardship.

Fulton Neighborhood Resource Center

Neighborhood Resource Center is an educational and cultural center fostering personal growth and community change in Greater Fulton, an impoverished community in Richmond’s East End.

Ginter Park United Methodist Church

Ginter Park United Methodist Church serves the community through worship, outreach, education, social activities, sacramental preparation, and comfort to the sick and those who mourn. They offer a welcoming community of love and service to all people.

Goochland Cares: Free Clinic and Family Services

Goochland Cares provides health care and basic human services to Goochland residents in need. Goochland Cares envisions a Goochland community where everyone’s basic human needs are met.

Grafton Integrated Health Network

Grafton Integrated Health Network is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that serves children, adolescents, and adults with complex behavioral health challenges.

Greater Richmond ARC

This Richmond-based not-for-profit company employs approximately 400 individuals including over 200 with a disability and is designed for individuals and families who are coping with the daily “real world” challenges of living with a disability. They offer a wide range of services and programs that have a profound impact on the 1,300 people they serve each year.

Greater Richmond Fit4Kids

Greater Richmond Fit4Kids, a Richmond-based non-profit organization, is dedicated to improving children’s health and reducing childhood obesity through innovative programs promoting physical activity, healthy eating in schools, community involvement, and more.

Heart Havens

Heart Havens is a non-profit organization that provides residential support to adults with a developmental disability, empowers people to discover what they love, and pursue their hopes and passions.

HomeAgain

Home Again helps families and individuals experiencing homelessness secure and maintain a home. HomeAgain helps end homelessness for over 500 households each year, getting them back on the road to stability.

Housing Families First

Housing Families First provides families experiencing homelessness with the tools to achieve housing stability. They ensure that each family has access to the supportive services necessary to sustain housing in the long run.

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden provides education that connects people and plants to improve communities. The Garden grows fresh produce for the hungry; actively participates in urban greening and water management initiatives; contributes to economic development and work-force training; and educates diverse youth and adult audiences about critical issues related to the interdependence of plants and people.

Patrick Henry School of Science & Arts

Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts (PHSSA) is Virginia’s first charter elementary school and serves approximately 330 Richmond students. Their mission is to cultivate students’ maximum growth and develop stewardship through a premier environmental and arts education.

Red Door Ministry at Grace and Holy Trinity Church

Started by women in the congregation in the 1980’s, Red Door Ministries serves the hungry, homeless, food and housing insecure community of Richmond.  They strive to care for the whole person in body, mind, and spirit with a well-balanced meal; a clothing closet filled with donations from the parish, individuals, and community; a healing service lead by clergy; and a prescription assistance program.

Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity ReStore

Habitat for Humanity ReStore is a nonprofit home improvement store and donation center that sells new and gently used furniture, appliances, home accessories, building materials and more to the public at a fraction of the retail price.

Richmond Public Schools

Richmond Public Schools (PRS) serve nearly 24,000 students, representing the region’s diverse socioeconomic mix. RPS offers 25 elementary schools, including one charter school, seven middle schools, five comprehensive high schools, and three specialty schools, including the nationally ranked Richmond Community and Open high schools, Franklin Military Academy (the nation’s first public military school), two regional Governor’s Schools, and SPACE (Special Program for Academic and Creative Excellence).

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Richmond

RMHC provides temporary lodging at significantly discounted rates for families with a loved one in long-term care at a nearby hospital. They keep families close to the care they need, relieving financial and logistical burdens for thousands with children or family members in the hospital every year.

Shalom Farms

Shalom Farms is a regional food access and community development project started in 2008 by United Methodist Urban Ministries of Richmond (UMUMR). They work with communities to ensure access to healthy food and to support to live healthy lives through sustainable food production and hands-on experiences at the farm and in the city.

Urban Baby Beginnings

Urban Baby Beginnings works with communities to ensure access to high-quality maternal health services while intensifying efforts towards the improvement and prevention of adverse maternal and child health outcomes by addressing community risk factors.

The Doorways

The Doorways provides a healing, emotionally supportive environment for those who need to be close to the hospital but not far from the feeling of “home.” They provide temporary lodging and non-medical services to patients and their families referred through our participating Richmond-area hospital partners.

Tricycle Urban Agriculture

Tricycle is Richmond’s leading urban agriculture nonprofit organization. They are dedicated to providing a healthy future through urban agriculture and have engaged thousands in this pursuit, revitalizing neighborhoods and transforming abandoned spaces into fruitful, sustainable community gardens.

YMCA of Greater Richmond

The “Y” has been building strong kids, families, and communities in Richmond since 1854. Today, they offer 17 convenient locations and provide a wide range of affordable services, resources, and community programs for families and individuals in the Greater Richmond area.

YWCA Richmond 

Since 1887, YWCA Richmond has helped women, children, and families throughout the Greater Richmond area. Their programs meet the unique needs of the community, all within the mission framework of the network of YWCA affiliates throughout the world: to eliminate racism and empower women.

Ready to volunteer? Sign up today! 

Give A Day RVA will be held on Saturday, September 29. HandsOn Greater Richmond is looking for up to 1,000 volunteers to join in so some projects will fill up quickly. To ensure that you and your family get to work on your preferred projects, sign up today. Not only will you have the satisfaction of having a volunteer project on your calendar, you’ll have the joy of knowing that you’ve impacted lives right here in your own community.

About HandsOn Greater Richmond

HandsOn Greater Richmond is a volunteer center that works with hundreds of nonprofit partners to get their needs in one place to easily and quickly connect to volunteers. They offer a wide range of unique, fun and flexible ways for you to get connected and get involved in your local and regional communities.