The Plan:
We hope to make use of many of the tools used in modern dynamic website design to allow students to search for opportunities directly suited to their interests, skills, and time availability. At the same time, we hope to streamline the process for non-profit organizations to directly add their latest volunteer opportunities to a waiting audience.
In addition to dynamic search and posting capabilities, we expect to offer feature articles with pictures. These articles will provide students with summary overviews about the range of opportunities available at some of the larger non-profit organizations. We will also send writers into the field to cover specific projects which reoccur on a regular basis. Please contact us (see below) if you would be willing to write for us.
We have already added a message board, which you can access here. Please post your ideas, concerns, opinions, and general comments, as well as immediate opportunities. We will use the material that you contribute to make this website as useful as possible to our entire audience.
If you are over 18, feel free to also use our website; however, consider volunteering to become a group leader. Many organizations require an adult leader to manage small groups of high school volunteers. You may use our message forum to post your availability to host such a group.
Welcome!
Today is January 29, 2012. Our registration page is currently live. Registering allows you to log in and post on our forums; logins will be implemented for the main site soon.
We are currently seeking additional volunteers to help us grow -- high school students are preferred, but others are also welcome to join. If you would like to help tens of thousands of Chicago high school students and the non-profits they serve, please send me an email here.
Our Mission:
There are many worthy non-profit organizations in Chicago desperately seeking volunteer help.
At the same time, the Chicago Public Schools require at least 45 hours of service learning volunteer work from each high school student over the course of 4 years; we estimate that this amounts to perhaps 1.5 million volunteer hours per year of available talent. Yet, there is no comprehensive guide to the volunteer opportunities available for students within the city.
It is our intention to rectify this situation and help bring students and non-profit organizations together in a more efficient manner. Knowledge is the key to our success: If you are a high school student, please let your friends, your classmates, and your teachers know about this website. If you work for a non-profit or simply know about a non-profit that could use high school students as volunteers, please let us know about your opportunities so we can catalog them and make them available.
About Us:
My name is Luke Priebe. I am a recent 3-year graduate from Von Steuben High School, located at Kimball and Foster in Chicago. I am currently taking an approved gap year to continue work on this project before beginning my studies at Brown University. I came up with the idea for this project. You can contact me here.
I am assisted by my former classmate Amera Al-Ali, a member of Von Steuben's Class of 2012. Amera can be contacted here.
If you would rather talk to an adult, my project development mentor is Roland. He can be reached here.