Our volunteer program is unique because our work is unique. The majority of volunteer opportunities are in our Teen Programs, which serve foster teens, ages 14-18, in Wake County. We don’t offer the typical day-to-day volunteer experience like some other organizations, but we do offer long-term opportunities to play a large role in helping our clients achieve their goals.
Please read this page thoroughly before contacting us.
Volunteers within our Teen Programs make a one-year commitment and become part of a care team comprised of Hope Center staff, Wake County staff, and other individuals all working toward ensuring that each foster teen has the support they need to complete high school and be ready to enter young adulthood as prepared as possible. There are two primary areas where we utilize volunteers:
Academic mentors make a one-year commitment to meet one-on-one with a student every week to enhance the student’s academic skills and promote productive academic habits. Providing help with homework and assisting with test preparation, academic mentors encourage students to become independent learners.
Learn more here: 2024-2025 Academic Tutor Position Description
Mentors will work to enhance the young person’s life skills and promote productive habits. Mentors will provide help with navigating life (be a listening ear, provide positive or constructive feedback and support with navigating academics, life situations, life transitions, etc.). These tasks will be completed in a way that encourages the student to become self-sufficient while in foster care and after they age out. Mentors will meet with a student at the student’s foster home or in the community on a bi-monthly basis throughout the year.
Learn more here: 2024-2025 Life Skills Mentor Position Description
We respond to volunteer inquiries and offer orientations during active recruitment times throughout the year. These are mainly during the Fall and early Spring.
Once you submit interest to volunteer, it may take several weeks to receive information about next steps, but please be patient!
If you are interested in being an Academic Tutor or Life Skills Mentor in our Teen Programs, please email us at volunteer@hopecenteratpullen.org.
We do not offer one-on-one volunteer opportunities in our Transition Program; however, we do partner with The Open Table to offer opportunities for interested individuals to work with our young adults in a team setting.
Open Table is a structured model that is designed to reflect the potential of every individual. Through building relationships and accessing social networks, a team of trained volunteers empowers individuals facing complex challenges to implement their plans for creating the better life they envision for themselves.
Open Table’s model trains a small group of 4 to 6 volunteers from the community to develop friendships with the person they serve (called the “Friend”). Volunteers form a “Table,” and together with the Friend, access who and what they know to remove barriers and support the Friend’s “Life Plan” – goals for now and the future. A Table meets bi-monthly with the Friend for an hour in person or virtually and shares conversations and activities between meetings.
To learn more about how you can volunteer with The Open Table, email laurahanlon@theopentable.org
Help our gift assistance program by hosting a donation drive or fundraiser! Individuals, groups and businesses can hold drives to collect holiday gifts for our young people and their children. The holiday season can be especially difficult for the youth we work with, often serving as a reminder of loss rather than celebration. We rely on donors to fulfill our clients’ Christmas wish lists. We collect wish lists in October and distribute them to our donors in November, but you can sign up to be a donor any time.
This is wonderful group activity and our clients love the Welcome Home Baskets supplied by our volunteers. Individuals, groups and businesses can hold drives to collect and deliver items for young adults to have when they move into their first apartment. These baskets contain the essentials: kitchen supplies like pots and pan, cups, plates, bowls, silverware, cutting boards, mixing bowls, and other kitchen essentials; cleaning supplies like household cleaners, paper products, brooms, and buckets; bath towels and wash cloths, shower curtain liners; pillows, sheets, and blankets; a first aid kit and many other items a young adult needs to help them maintain their home.
If you are interested in any of these opportunities with The Hope Center at Pullen, please email us at volunteer@hopecenteratpullen.org.
“I lived in a group home for 4 years. It was a good experience. They taught you independent skills and how to live on your own. They helped you get your driver’s license. But when you age out they are just done with you, they don’t help you anymore and you are just out on your own. It was very hard to leave. It was kind of sad for me because I was leaving and I didn’t want to leave. I should have stayed and gotten the help I needed. Instead they sent me to my mom who I didn’t know anymore.”
Our collaborative is helping this young woman pursue her passion in the customer service field by connecting her to the services she needs, including housing and education, as well as employment. Our collaborative includes The United Way of the Greater Triangle, Wake County Human Services, Fostering Bright Futures at Wake Tech, EDSI Tomorrow’s Leaders, Families Together, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, and SAFEchild. Together, we work with our young people to not only help prepare them with the skills they need to live independent lives before they age out of foster care, but also provide wrap-around services after they age out so that they have the support they need as they transition to adulthood.
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