Many Weber State University students need to log volunteer hours for various classes and there are plenty of options around Ogden to get those hours in.
The Ogden Nature Center offers one-time volunteer opportunities, as well as some long-term ones. They are currently preparing for their “Creatures of the Night” event, a Halloween event with crafts, games and food for kids. This would be a one-night commitment, perfect for students who just need to work in a few hours volunteer work.
For those who need more than one night to fill their hours, the Ogden Nature Center also needs volunteers for trash pickup, habitat restoration and removing invasive species to replace them with native ones. People who are especially interested in zoology could also get involved with the regular feeding of the resident birds of prey that reside at the center.
Salt Lake City’s airport Transport Security Administration is also seeking volunteers to help train their bomb-sniffing dogs. All volunteers have to do is walk around the airport with a training aid on, and wait for the dogs to pick up the scent of the aid and alert their handlers. This can be a one-day, multiple-hour commitment, or something repeated after about a month has passed.
The Pregnancy Medical Clinic in Ogden needs volunteers for data entry, sorting donations and putting together gift baskets for new mothers. If students are looking for a one-night commitment, the organization is hosting a banquet on Oct. 7 and needs volunteers to help set up.
If volunteers want to get involved by working with shelters, the Lantern House in Ogden or the Geraldine E. King Women’s Shelter in Salt Lake City are both great options. The Lantern House has a lot of different ways to help out; visit their website to get started.
The Geraldine E. King Women’s Resource Center also offers a few different ways to volunteer. One of the easiest would be to schedule a meal service shift through their website. Each shift is about two hours long, and can be done solo or in a group.
Davis and Weber counties have animal shelters that accept volunteers. These volunteer opportunities do, however, require some training. Most shifts at the Davis County shelter are only one to two hours long, while shifts at the Weber County shelter are at least three hours.
The Davis shelter offers volunteer opportunities at the shelter, directly interacting with the pets, or by helping with transport and adoption events.
Volunteers looking for a remote commitment can look into being a crisis counselor with organizations like the Crisis Text Line or The Trevor Project. These opportunities, however, require some training and a larger time commitment.
There are so many ways for students to get into volunteering, no matter their abilities or interests.
