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Community Corner

Volunteer Opportunities Abound in Summit County

Improve the lives of others and strengthen your community.

Have you settled on your New Year's Resolution, yet? Lose weight? Stop Smoking? Stash away an emergency fund?

Have you considered volunteering? There are benefits to giving your time, according to the Corporation of National & Community Service, a federal agency that leads President Barack Obama's national call to service initiative. Those benefits include strengthening communities, improving the lives of others, connecting to others and transforming our own lives.

There are a number of organizations in the area that can benefit from your time and talents. They all provide training, and only require you to complete an application and a background check.

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The United Way of Summit County Volunteer Center "champions volunteerism and makes opportunities available to volunteers through the year -- connecting volunteers to improve the quality of life in our community."

Below are just a handful of the available opportunities. You can also check out what the United Way has listed.

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  • Help supervise homeless children of all ages who reside at ACCESS Inc. The organization has been sheltering homeless women and their children in Summit County since 1984. To volunteer, you need to be at least 16 years old and have a flexible schedule.
  • At the Boys & Girls Club of the Western Reserve you have to be 16 to volunteer. The youth development organization has been providing after-school and school break programming to at-risk kids in the greater Akron area since 1984. Opportunities include everyting from mentoring to tech room help to dinner buddy.
  • The Humane Society of Greater Akron is dedicated to preventing and investigating animal cruelty, protecting the welfare of animals and providing adoption services. The organization has been around since 1968 and relies on its volunteers to help keep operating costs down. Volunteer opportunities include play pals and foster families any day of the week to help care for homeless animals. You need to be 16 years old to volunteer, or 14 if you have an adult partner.
  • The Rape Crisis Center of Medina and Summit Counties needs hotline advocates between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 a.m. during the weekdays and 24 hours on weekends. Volunteers respond to a variety of calls that include crisis intervention, referrals for sexual assualt survivors and support. You must be 18 years old to volunteer.
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