Travel Tips

Voluntourism Spotlight: Hands On Portland

Locations in this article:  Portland, OR

Portland, Oregon is often on the cutting-edge of trends. Portland fun is not just about the hottest food truck or indie record store. The city has even mobilize itself with an centralized way to give back. Enter Hands On Portland, the city’s hub for volunteer and volunteer travel opportunities.  Tune into Peter Greenberg Worldwide Radio on Saturday for more information on the organization and check back every Wednesday for more voluntourism opportunities.

If you’re heading to Portland and want to immerse yourself in the local community, consider volunteering. Hands On Portland is your guide to connect you to volunteer opportunities across the Portland Metro area. These include conducting canned food and book drives, feeding the homeless, collecting and distributing items for homeless shelters, delivering meals, and planting trees and gardens.

Want to spend a few hours volunteering? The website has a Project Calendar with “done-in-a-day” opportunities, which last around 2-4 hours. Look for descriptions with *Hands On* in the title—they’re projects managed by the organization, and have a trained volunteer leader. You can easily sign up for these on the website, and there are about eight projects a week.

Otherwise, look for “Referral” in the title, which means the project is managed by a nonprofit partner. If you express interest, the managing organization will respond with details on how to proceed.

If you have more than a few hours you’d like to spend volunteering, you can find longer-term or skill-based opportunities. Hands on Portland has over 300 nonprofit partners, and you can search by keyword, issue area, and availability, to name a few.

It’s also easy to volunteer on a holiday. Take a look at the Special Events & Days of Service. There are opportunities such as January’s United Way MLK Weekend of Service .

Teens can easily volunteer through Hands on Portland. They can help design websites, teach art classes at Cedar Sinai Park or a senior center, help out around the office at radio station KBOO, or work with children at The Children’s Museum.

If you want to volunteer as a family, take a look at the Good for Kids! Projects. These are designed for families that have children at age ten and younger, are safe and easy for kids to comprehend, and are a maximum of two hours.

For more information, check out their website.