Volunteering is a great way for teens to gain new skills or enhance the skills they already have while they lend a hand for a good cause. Aside from building their skills, resilience, and self-confidence, teens will also become more socially aware and develop compassion. Volunteering is a great opportunity to help in your teen’s holistic development. Naturally, you would want to keep your teen safe, so we have gathered 6 virtual volunteer opportunities for teens.
1 – Be Someone’s Eyes
BeMyEyes pairs up sighted volunteers with blind or low-vision individuals who need help with daily tasks. Volunteers will receive calls during their selected daytime through their smartphones. They will accomplish tasks through a live one-way video (two-way audio). Tasks typically include reading expiration dates, identifying colors, navigating unfamiliar surroundings, and so on. Volunteers, however, must be at least 17 years old.
2 – Transcribe Historical Documents
If your teen loves history, they would love volunteering at The National Archives or at the Smithsonian. Teens can help virtually transcribe records and documents and tagging them to make them more accessible and searchable to the public.
Documents are curated by topic, so your teen can choose a topic that piques their interest.
3 – Volunteer For A Political Campaign
Is your teen becoming vocal about politics? It may be time to get them involved in politics through volunteering. Teens can volunteer for political campaigns by helping with phone calls, raising awareness, canvassing, lit drops, mailings, and data entry. You can choose a political campaign from a variety of parties. Find one that speaks close to your teen’s advocacies here.
4 – Be A Virtual Tutor To Younger Kids
Teensgive.org offers virtual tutoring for children in underserved communities who need help catching up with their studies. Teens can volunteer to tutor younger kids on basic subjects or teach English to an ESL adult without having to leave home.
Their virtual tutorial sessions are conducted via laptop or phone (they record sessions for quality and safety) during your teen’s selected schedule.
5 – Send A Smile To Senior Citizens And Troops Overseas
Color A Smile offers an easy option to volunteer at home. To volunteer, simply print out color-in and free art pages (where you can draw your own art) and color them. Then, send them to Color A Smile who will then send those to people who need a smile. Color A Smile accepts volunteers of all ages, but this is a good starting point for teens who are not yet sure about committing to a cause. Color A Smile is an easy and flexible volunteering opportunity for teens.
6 – Make Books Accessible To People With Reading Barriers
Bookworms and aspiring writers can volunteer to scan, proofread, and describe images in books to make them accessible to people with learning disabilities, vision impairment, physical disabilities, and other reading barriers.
Bookshare offers another easy volunteering opportunity for teens aged 15 years old and up. Teens can check out a book they want to proofread, take their time proofreading it, or release it if it doesn’t interest them.
Tips For Choosing A Volunteer Opportunity
We know that getting teenagers to commit to a volunteering opportunity can be tricky because they easily get bored.
We suggest talking with your teen about what interests them, what advocacies they feel strongly about, and encourage them to volunteer for a program or organization that focuses on that advocacy. No matter what your teen’s interests are, there are ways for them to make the world a better place!
