5 Best: Ways to Volunteer This Season - The Bend Magazine

5 Best: Ways to Volunteer This Season

Volunteering isn’t just giving; it’s taking a corner of the community and making it better for the people who share it – including yourself

By: Julieta Hernandez  Photo by: Rachel Benavides
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Whether we find ourselves with sudden free time during the holiday season or just thrive on being a part of thebrcommunity, the Coastal Bend provides volunteer opportunities for any fit. Volunteering isn’t just giving; it’s taking abrcorner of the community and making it better for the people who share it – including yourself. You can go solo, or rallybra group of friends or family to create meaningful experiences for everyone around you by getting your hands a littlebrdirty and potentially learning a new skill. Here are the five best (of many) volunteer opportunities in our backyard.br

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ADOPT-A-BEACH BEACH CLEANUPS 

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Although a sweater might be a good beach accessory this time of year,brbeach clean-ups take place year-round. Living by the coast makes thisbran important calling for us: creating and living in cleaner beaches.brSince the program started in the ’80s, volunteers have picked up morebrthan 9,000 tons of trash…which otherwise would’ve accumulated. Tobrparticipate, find the next round-up (or register to start your own) atbrglo.texas.gov under the Adopt-A-Beach tab. 

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H-E-B FEAST OF SHARING 

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Nothing makes us feel warmer than the food we cook together, and ourbrneighborhood grocery chain keeps the tradition every year. It comesbrright before Christmas on Dec. 21st, so anyone who isn’t going out ofbrtown for the holidays has a chance to brush up on their cooking for abrcommunity cause. Every year, this tradition feeds thousands of peoplebrand brings even thousands more closer through the volunteering experience. For more info about volunteering, inquire at your local H-E-Bbrstore or at HEB.com. 

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CASA OF THE COASTAL BEND 

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Investing in the future means investing in our children; that’s whybrCASA advocates for them, and invites volunteers who aim for the same thing. There are plenty of children who would bene t from abrCASA volunteer, and by learning about and working closely with a child, the impact you’ll have on their life will be tremendous. Atbrcasaforchildren.org, you can learn about the process and get started onbryour application. 

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GROW LOCAL LEARNING GARDEN 

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Over at the Learning Garden, building access to homegrown foods isbrhow hands in the soil contribute to the community. The garden is openbrweekly to volunteers who want to dip their toes in the soil, as well asbrevent volunteers for their Farmer’s Market and Farm to Table events.brTo grow a passion for locally grown food, get in touch with the Learning Garden on their GROW Local South Texas Facebook page. 

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HABITAT FOR HUMANITY 

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A helper at Habitat for Humanity will be a part of giving somebody inbrour community a place to go home to. Because of willing volunteers,brbuilding stable and a affordable houses can be done in a short amount ofbrtime with a fun group of people, and you may and some hammeringbrand carpentry skills useful in life. To volunteer by yourself or with abrgroup, head to corpuschristih.org/volunteer/ for more information. 

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