September 19, 2025
Volunteering is a wonderful thing. Hopefully we can all agree on that. But the problem is, many of us don’t volunteer because we feel we simply don’t have the time or energy for it. In my experiences in multiple volunteer roles, I see mostly two demographics: young students and retirees. One group is trying to earn hours while the other is trying to keep themselves busy. What that means is that all the in-between folks, a.k.a. working adults, don’t volunteer as much. And for good reason. They’re working adults. I’ve met people who desire to volunteer, yet don’t commit because they feel like they literally can’t. They’ve got a full-time job, maybe kids, and they’re worn out. Doing more work by standing up in a soup kitchen does not sound like their definition of a relaxing weekend. Similarly, as a busy mother, you may feel that your motherly responsibilities aren’t compatible with volunteer work.
But as it turns out, not all volunteer roles require lots of standing or manual labor or even many hours. Sure, some volunteer roles are more serious, where you commit to an agreement to serve however many hours weekly. Maybe you even have an authority position and your volunteer work is something like a job. Some opportunities require more elbow grease and time commitment, but others flex to fit your schedule, personality, and skills, and perhaps don’t require a certain number of hours to meet.
And that’s what we’ll be discussing today, flexible and simple volunteer opportunities that you can squeeze into your schedule even as a busy mom. I’ll also include some extra volunteer search advice at the end.
- Letter Writing
This one’s personal. I’ve been doing letter writing for over two years now. I’ve been volunteering with an organization called Soldiers’ Angels (SA) for that long. While I haven’t been paid to say this, I can vouch for their cause and I believe they are a great organization to volunteer with. SA is dedicated to the military community and those connected to it, such as kids and spouses. They have everything from opportunities to buy presents for military families at Christmas to a baking group to, you guessed it, letter writing.
The letter-writing opportunities are split into multiple categories. You can write letters for special occasions, for veterans, or for deployed. I’m on the Letter Writing Team (LWT), which sends letters to deployed service members. And before you scroll away because you think (or know) you’re not good at writing, don’t worry. You won’t have a teacher grammar-checking you. Letters do not have to be a certain length and can be simple and short. My obligation to remain a part of the LWT is to give at least a $12 donation yearly (which, in my opinion, is extremely reasonable) and to write at least one letter per month. That’s it. If I wish to write more, I can.
If you want to take your time writing a long letter per month, you can. But you can also write something short, which will take very little time. Get some envelopes and a stamp and walk to the mailbox and you’re good to go. What this means is that you can make a significant month-by-month impact through writing one simple letter. This is especially good for those of you who want to help the military community, as unfortunately some deployed service members receive no letters. You could be the one letter they get.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure it can get any more flexible and less time-consuming than that. SA has a wealth of other great opportunities, such as food drives or VA volunteering (if you live near one of their locations), seasonal “operations” (like winter clothes drives), or even creating handmade items. If you want to learn more about Soldiers’ Angels, send a comment using the box down below to connect with me or check out their website here.
- Trash Clean-Ups
I know, sounds gross. But one good thing about local trash pickups is that they usually are very short in length and don’t require you to commit many hours on a monthly or weekly basis. Depending upon which organization you volunteer with, local trash pickups could be held on any repeating schedule, such as once a week or once a month. As an example, I volunteer with Keep America Beautiful, which has chapters in cities across the country. I volunteer with my city’s chapter, which has one trash pick up per month for two hours on a Saturday.
Better yet, you can form your own trash pick-up group, perhaps gain your first members through recruiting your friends or posting on social media, and set your own hours and locations.
- Volunteering While Earning Professional Experience
Many nonprofits out there need people in ways you might not expect. It’s not uncommon to see volunteer opportunities that look more like jobs, such as video editing, grant writing, and social media management. While the flexibility of these opportunities is lower on the scale, there’s a unique pro to that con: career opportunity. Unfortunately, volunteering to earn experience is a tip that often gets slept on.
When we think of beginner experience we think of internships, job shadowing, or entry positions. We hardly ever think of volunteering. But the truth is, you can earn experience that you need through volunteer work. Say you want to be a grant writer professionally, but have little experience. There are grant-writing volunteer positions out there. Also, the experience level needed to get into volunteer positions is often much lower than actual jobs. The stakes aren’t high. And unlike a job, you may leave at any time if you feel necessary without the guilt or financial worry.
And yes, you absolutely can put these experiences on your resume. If you did website editing as a volunteer but wish to work in a job that requires knowledge of website editing, then guess what? You can add that. Maybe you aspire to work in healthcare. Some medical facilities take patient greeter volunteers. You can put on your resume that you have experience speaking with patients in their time of need. You can earn hours, help out an organization you like, and gain experience.
While the time commitment may be more, this is an opportunity you may not want to pass up, especially if you’re a young mom looking to boost her professional presence.
- Medical facilities
Medical facilities can range from anything to mental health institutions, children’s hospitals, VA’s, animal hospitals and wildlife refuges, hospices, and others. Places like these are always in search of volunteers to do a whole host of things, like being a greeter, comforting patients (sometimes even through music, like MOC), bringing registered therapy animals, or helping with general clean-up or certain administrative tasks. While some opportunities are less flexible in nature and require you to commit certain hours, others can conform to your own life. Consider looking into any medical facilities near you and seeing if they have calls for volunteers.
- Schools
Along with medical facilities, schools often are searching for people who love children who are willing to put in some unpaid effort to help the youth of their community. I’ve seen anything from being a volunteer counselor to help grieving children to church members who host Bible studies at public schools to volunteer tutors. Consider checking into your county’s school system and seeing what opportunities they have available.
Additional Advice
If you’re feeling stuck, there are volunteer organizations all over the internet that you can search through to find something that suits you. In some of them you can filter by city and/or cause (such as environment or poverty) until you narrow down an opportunity that feels right. You can also follow certain organizations on their socials. Even just a quick search of “volunteer opportunities in my area” will yield a wealth of results. Three of my favorite sites that can be used by someone anywhere in the country are Idealist, (formerly known as VolunteerMatch), Do Something (which is geared towards younger audiences, like teens and twenty-somethings), and Volunteer.gov. And remember, even if adding something else into your life sounds crazy, even just small amounts of volunteering can have a large impact; plus, you’ll feel good afterwards when you realize how you’ve helped. Trust me on that one.
About the Author, Krista Ruffo
Krista Ruffo is a Volunteer Blogger with South Project. She graduated from the University of Central Florida with a bachelor’s degree in English and a Certificate in Editing and Publishing in December 2024. A passionate writer and reader, Krista aspires to work in children’s book publishing in the future. Currently she works as Content Coordinator for a small family magazine. In her free time, she enjoys creative writing, taking photos, and gardening. Krista lives in Orlando, Florida, with her four beloved cats.