Volunteer Opportunities

YOU MUST BE AT LEAST 21 TO BE A VOLUNTEER AND MUST HAVE YOUR OWN TRANSPORTATION.

Mondays--Pick up bread and food from local grocery stores & food bank.  Time flexible
Tuesdays--Food & Resource delivery to motels--10:30 am. to 2 pm
Wednesday & Thursday--After School Program--3 to 5 pm
Saturday--Bread pick up & delivery to local motels
Sunday--Kids Club Program--1 to 3 pm (Games, Arts & Crafts)

All of our volunteer activities occur under the direction of a trained team leader.  Volunteers are never sent to the motels alone.

Our Programs

·        Food Distribution---Currently about 500 pounds per week from Food Banks and other donated sources are distributed by volunteers.  The goal of Project Dignity is not to provide 100% food assistance to motel families, rather to help supplement the monetary resources that the families do have, and to help them stretch their resources as far and efficiently as possible, to encourage responsible budgeting and money management.  

·        Clothing, Hygiene & Household Products Distribution--Approximately 500 pounds of needed items are distributed weekly by volunteers to families living in the motels.   This allows children to attend school appropriately attired and parents to have the proper clothing needed to attend job interviews and successfully gain employment.  Particular attention is given to distributing "business attire", when available. 

·        Children's Activities--Arts and crafts and game sessions led by teams of volunteers are provided at the motels each Sunday afternoon.  Volunteers act as mentors and lavish much needed individual one-on-one attention on the children, increasing their sense of self worth and potential to succeed in life. 

·        Educational Assistance--Children are provided with book-bags, supplies and clothing for school.  Volunteers also assist parents and facilitate the enrollment of children in local schools, or in Project Hope school (a sister endeavor created specifically to meet the needs of homeless children).   In 2000, Project Dignity launched a mobile tutoring program, utilizing a trailer that is towed from motel to motel to provide service.  The transient nature of the children's lives creates difficulties in continuity of education.    Project Dignity believes emphatically in the use of education to promote self reliance and willingly dedicates its resources to help children and their parents in any way needed.

·        Housing Assistance--Assistance is provided, for qualified families, with costs associated with moving into permanent housing (first and last month's rent, deposits, furniture and household items as available).  Project Dignity also provides assistance with rent payments at the motels in emergency situations.   Transitioning families from transient into permanent housing is one of the most satisfactory steps towards self reliance in which Project Dignity participates. 

·        Cooperative Efforts Coordination and Modeling--Project Dignity assists other agencies interested in serving the motel children and families by developing new or expanded programs, and sharing knowledge and experience.  Volunteers also work with other groups to provide successful special projects and events for children living in motels. 

·        Community Awareness--Over the past years, several presentations have been made to various community and civic groups, on radio and television shows, at hospital in-service training functions, etc., to speak about the plight of the "Motel Children" and raise public awareness for the need for support.   

·        Holiday Programs--Project Dignity provides Christmas presents and Easter baskets to the children in the motels we serve.  Over 1,600 Christmas gifts  and over 500 Easter baskets were distributed to the children in 2007.  Project Dignity also provides birthday presents to each child as their birthdays become known to us. 

·        Cold & Flu Prevention Program—Every November and January we distribute thousands of hygienic items necessary to help prevent the spread of flu and cold germs.  The sad fact of motel living is that if one person in the room gets sick, everyone gets sick unless proper hygienic prevention methods are used.