Where to volunteer on Thanksgiving

I usually spend Thanksgiving with friends in Ann Arbor but this year will be in Chicago and would like to spend some of it volunteering to help prepare and serve the Thanksgiving meal at a shelter or community center. Do any of you have suggestions of places at which you've volunteered on Thanksgiving? Thank you.

I'd suggest you save up that urge to volunteer until a time when shelters really need it.. like February, or something. Or, if you want to really do it, commit to not only this thanksgiving, but one day a week for the next year. Alternatively, give cash.

Even just on Thanksgiving is better than most of the rest of us - a generous thought on your part.

I've volunteered in the past through Rockefeller Chapel (http://rockefeller.uchicago.edu/). They work in small groups with several South Side alliances and soup kitchens. You can call the office or write Laura Hollinger at marie1@uchicago.edu.

Yeah, that came off very dismissive. Definitely, if this is your best or only opportunity, volunteer on Thanksgiving. I'd just humbly suggest also volunteering at a time when there's less, er, competition

gleam wrote:I'd suggest you save up that urge to volunteer until a time when shelters really need it.. like February, or something. Or, if you want to really do it, commit to not only this thanksgiving, but one day a week for the next year. Alternatively, give cash.

Thanks for saying this.

Hi Ed - No offense taken. You had no way of knowing this but my entire career has been in the nonprofit sector and I have volunteered pretty consistently for the last 20+ years (literacy tutor, youth services, homeless shelters) etc. or served on boards (which I am currently doing). And as I've worked in the sector, I know the value of cash contributions and regularly give to organizations and causes that are important to me as I know that volunteering does not help pay the rent or basic costs of nonprofits.

I have also managed volunteers throughout my work and appreciate that sometimes, you can have too many volunteers and there may not be any need for more on any given day or any given project, which I imagine may often be the case on Thanksgiving and Christmas at shelters or community organizations. It's just that this is my first year spending Thanksgiving in Chicago in a long time and I thought people here might know about some smaller, overlooked agencies that may not have the capacity and staff to recruit and manage volunteers that some of the larger agencies do. So if anyone does, please let me know.

Props! Here's hoping others who aren't as awesome as you are get some value from the advice, anyway