How to Volunteer at a Women's Shelter

Women's shelters provide food, housing and safety for many women who have no other place to turn. By volunteering at a women's shelter, you can support and serve women who may have stopped believing there is good in the world.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Find a local YWCA shelter by visiting its website and clicking your state on the map of the United States (see Resources below).
2. Search the Artists Helping Children website for shelters in your area, or contact your local family court for information on the closest shelter to your home (see Resources below).
3. Ask about the type of volunteer openings your local shelter has and pick one that uses your skills (such as experience in cooking, cleaning or counseling). You could even help by using your fluency in Spanish or another language to communicate with women who don't speak English well. You can also tell the volunteer director about any special talents you have, such as an ability to sing, so that if such talents are needed in the future, she will know whom to ask.
4. Give your time as a child-care volunteer. You would care for children while their mothers sought legal, mental health or medical help.
5. Volunteer as a court advocate, helping women through the court-intake process, assisting them with forms and accompanying them to hearings.
6. Provide the services of an administrative assistant. You will probably be asked to answer the shelter's phone, greet guests, enter data into the facility's computer and perform other office-maintenance tasks.
7. Coordinate donations and supplies. You might schedule pickups and drop-offs of donated items. You might also be asked to organize them within the shelter or distribute them to the women who need them.
8. Volunteer to help with minor maintenance of the shelter. You may be asked to make minor repairs, clean and organize, paint or do yard work.
9. Follow the shelter's volunteer application procedure. You might have to undergo criminal background checks, interviews or training before you start volunteering. You may also be asked to provide character references.
10. Leave your valuables at home or in your car. You may encounter some pretty desperate people, and you don't want to have to keep watch over your wallet, jewelry, or PDA while you are there to help.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are male, check whether the shelter you are considering accepts male volunteers. Some women's shelters accept only female volunteers.
• Serve in another way if you don't have the time or emotional stamina to volunteer at a local women's shelter routinely, but you still want to assist homeless and battered women. You could give a monetary donation or help organize a canned-food drive to stock the shelter's kitchen. Many women's shelters also look for donations of women's clothing, especially nice, business-appropriate clothing that could help a woman get a job and get back on her feet.
• Never give out any personal information about yourself to the women living in the shelter.
• Some of the problems you see at a shelter may stir up an emotional response. If you suffer from depression, you might want to serve in another way to protect your mental health. It is likely that you will have to deal with women who are depressed, suicidal, abused or suffering from drug or alcohol addictions.