Group volunteer opportunities in Boston

June 18, 2013 5:54 AM

I have a group of 70 people interested in spending a morning or afternoon doing hands-on volunteer work ... in Boston in early December. We can break them into smaller groups, but everyone would be spending the same chunk of time doing this. What are some good volunteer activities for groups?
posted by spindrifter to Work & Money (8 answers total)

Weekday or weekend?

If Saturday is an option, the Prison Book Program might be able to take a smaller sub-group for some chunk of time between 10 am and 4 pm on whatever their regularly scheduled Saturday volunteer session ends up being in December. However, 70 people would be above their capacity (and you'd have to ask ahead about a smaller group). (Full disclosure, I volunteer there, although I'm not the person you'd be asking about bringing a large group and I'm honestly not sure what the max capacity is.)
posted by pie ninja at 6:10 AM on June 18, 2013

Response by poster: Ah, good question. This would be a weekday (but I'm making a note about the Prison Book Program as a possibility for a group of friends - thanks!)
posted by spindrifter at 6:14 AM on June 18, 2013

In the past, I've been part of big group volunteer efforts at the Greater Boston Food Bank. It's fun, and good for big groups. They are totally open to weekdays
posted by darsh at 6:19 AM on June 18, 2013

VolunteerMatch.org is a good starting point to look into opportunities.
posted by kinetic at 6:26 AM on June 18, 2013

Check out National Braille Press, they often use volunteers to collate braille books (because of the raised dots, the pages cannot be put together with a collating machine).
posted by Melismata at 8:12 AM on June 18, 2013

Cradles to Crayons takes large groups, and they're busy around the holidays. You'd be working in their warehouse, processing donations (toys and clothes for children). Greater Boston Food Bank, suggested by darsh above, is a similar experience.
posted by chickenmagazine at 8:14 AM on June 18, 2013

Does it have to be right in Boston, or nearby?

The Friends of the Fells (Volunteer Info Page) organizes with groups: Friends of the Fells coordinates with DCR staff to host groups of 15-50 volunteers from local organizations interested in peforming a day of service in the Fells. Group work days may include cleanup, invasives removal, trail improvements, trail closures, or other needed projects.

Obviously this is fairly outdoorsy, so it would be a weather permitting sort of thing.
posted by instead of three wishes at 8:19 AM on June 18, 2013

Is there a local Salvation Army Christmas program near you? My office always volunteers an afternoon during the holidays to help with the warehouse/inventory tasks of the Angel Tree donations.
posted by CathyG at 11:10 AM on June 19, 2013