Want to know how you can get involved? Keep reading!
Classroom Assistance
The following are steps any potential volunteer must take before beginning to volunteer at Talitha Koum in the classroom:
1. Attend a New Volunteer Orientation: Our Nurture Center Director, Donna Losak, hosts a few new volunteer orientations a semester. At this orientation you will learn more about Talitha Koum, it's therapeutic methods, and your role as a volunteer in the classroom.
To sign up for a New Volunteer Orientation, contact our Volunteer Coordinator.
2. Pass a background check: The State of Texas Childcare Licensing requires that all of our volunteers complete a background check before interacting with children. The cost of the background check IS covered by Talitha Koum. Once your information has been submitted, it generally takes about a week to process. You will fill out a background check at your New Volunteer Orientation. **Texas Childcare Licensing has a new requirement; if you have lived out of state in the past 5 years you will be required to be fingerprinted, which carries a $40 cost to you.
3. Set a schedule with our Nurture Center Director: Once you have attended orientation and passed your background check, you are ready to set a volunteering schedule! For the sake of the therapeutic aspects of our program, we ask that volunteers spend the same amount of time on the same day in the same classroom every week. Consistency is important for children, especially children who deal with anxiety due to trauma. We ask our volunteers to commit to a minimum of two consecutive hours weekly at Talitha Koum. If you would like to volunteer more than two hours a week, you will need to communicate this with the Nurture Center Director. Ideal times to volunteer with most age groups fall between 8:00 am- 11:30 am and 2:30 pm -4:30 pm Monday through Thursday, or Friday mornings.
We do extend priority to volunteers who have worked with us in past semesters, as well as volunteers whose fields of study or experience align with the work being done at Talitha Koum (Child & Family Studies, Psychology, Neuroscience, Pre-OT, Social Work, etc.).
For more information, contact Blake Garvelli, Donor Relations Director and Volunteer Coordinator.
Group Projects
One of our privileges is to acquaint our volunteers (of any age five and older!) with how their own brains developed and why it is that trauma-affected children have brain architecture harmed by the toxic stress of deep poverty. It's a bit of “neuroscience light” but always fascinating. Along the way, our hope is that we will awaken any person, young or older, to become trauma-sensitive toward those they meet. We spend a period of time on the first visit explaining those things and giving a tour, after which we roll up sleeves and get to work!
Our tasks are determined from a variety of needs....gardening, painting our outdoor mural, sorting donated items, sterilizing every ball in our ball pit, and so on.
What we request is that you let us know your best days/times, the length of time you'd want to be with us, and the number of students and adults who will be coming. Then, once that is settled, we go about to identify the most needed projects, doable within your time frame and given the ages of your group!
Contact our Donor Relations Director, Blake Garvelli, for further information.
Individual Talents
Are you a primo organizer, a Ms./Mr. Fixit, a gardener (even weeding!)? Do you play an instrument, enjoy art projects, love to paint (walls)? Do you consider yourself a General of Helpfulness whatever the task, such as getting out a mailing or sorting hand-me-down clothes? Contact our Donor Relations Director, Blake Garvelli, for further information.
Please fill out the form below and we will be in contact with you about current volunteer opportunities, such as offering Classroom Assistance, bringing friends for Group Projects, or making fine use of your Individual Talents.