United Community Ministries
Volunteer Opportunities
July, 2015
Once A Year Activities:
Stamp Out Hunger – This food drive, sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers, is one of the major community wide food drives that support UCM. The event is on the second Saturday of November. We need up to 15 volunteers all afternoon that day.
Stuff the Bus – This food drive, sponsored by Fairfax County, teams us with the local Shoppers Food Warehouse grocery store, to collect food for our food pantry. The event is in January or February. We need 5-10 volunteers all day that day.
Boy Scout Food Drive – This food drive, sponsored by local Scout troops, is another major food drive that supports our pantry. We need up to 50 volunteers to help receive, sort and store food. This drive is the 2nd Saturday in November.
Weekdays – Any Time of the Year:
Run the Food Pantry for a Day – We need a team of 5 to shadow our food pantry staff, check in clients, help distribute food, and setup and cleanup from the day. The pantry serves up to 100 families a day.
Sorting at the Back Porch – The Back Porch is UCM’s Thrift Store. Proceeds from the store stay in our community. Donations are accepted for resale, and we need up to 5 volunteers any weekday afternoon to help sort donations.
Projects with Children:
Summer Lunch Program – Our community centers run lunch programs for students over the summer. You would help serve lunch and then help with a group activity with the students. We need up to 5 volunteers from 11:00 am until 3:00 pm, any day of the week through August 2015. You would be directed in your work by community center staff.
Picnic and Playtime -Our community centers host summer time projects for children in our regular after school programs. We are looking for 5-10 volunteers to come on a weekday afternoon to take the children to a local park for a picnic lunch and some sports time. We would love it if you would consider bringing healthy snacks to serve when the activity is finished.
Monthly Projects:
Produce Distribution: Once a month on the last Saturday of the month, we receive free produce to distribute to needy families in our community. We need 5 to 10 volunteers to help with this from 7:00 am until 10:00 am. You’ll be sorting, packing and distributing food.
Bulk Food Sorting – We received commodity foods in bulk each month for distribution through our food pantry. We need up to 20 volunteers for one-half day on the 3rd Friday of the month.
One Time Projects:
Painting our large conference room:We use our large conference room for a variety of projects: our back pack distribution, holiday gift room, all staff meetings, food pantry projects and more. You'll help paint the room, turning it from a drab place into a lively place that reflects the happy, positive nature of UCM. We'll need 5-10 people, some with some painting experience preferred. Plan for a 10:00 am to 4:00 pm project on a Saturday or Sunday.
Create A Video Tour of the Back Porch – Your team of experienced communications people would work with the Back Porch staff to create a video tour of the store. The video would run on the Back Porch website and other places. We have a camera that could be used for this project, but would need editing software from the team.
Anytime Projects:
I Got A Job Kit – Create individual kits for the first day on the job. We provide a lunch bag, metro pass, food gift cards and more for our Work Center clients who’ve landed that all important job. We also have similar work for kits for graduates of our citizenship classes.
Teach a Workshop – We need teachers and tutors for our language classes. You could teach or tutor on Citizenship, ESL, Financial Literacy, and Employment Readiness.
For more information on any of these opportunities, please contact Christine Lucas, Director of Development and Communication at 571-255-8985 or
Thanks in advance for volunteering with UCM!
United Community Ministries
7511 Fordson Rd.
Alexandria, VA 22306