Volunteer Opportunities

Volunteer with Heading Home

Volunteer with Heading Home

Each year, thousands of volunteers power the work of Heading Home – from organizing essential donations to making our spaces feel like home. We’re deeply grateful for the time, care, and commitment each volunteer brings. Whether you join as an individual, with a group, or through your workplace, your involvement creates meaningful change for families moving out of homelessness.

No matter your budget or the size of your group, there is a way for you to get involved with Heading Home as a volunteer, whether through in-kind donations or on-site opportunities. To hear more about the options and see what’s right for you, please contact our Volunteer team.

Contact Our Team
  • Make kits for our clients: Creating ‘kits’ of new, unused items for Heading Home clients is a great way to contribute and can be done individually or as a fun group activity. Both when clients are in shelter, and when they move out of shelter and into permanent housing, they are often lacking basic supplies. We’ve organized these most-needed items into ‘kits’ that anyone can assemble and donate: View Our Kit List

 

There are many ways to include Heading Home in your event, whether it’s a Lunch & Learn at your company, a donation drive and kit-packing event, a Jeffersonian dinner, a booth at an industry conference, a charity showcase, or a fundraising event to benefit Heading Home. We send representatives from our Development team and C-suite to offices, churches, community action groups, etc., to talk about our mission and how everyone has the power to make a difference in a family’s life.

Please contact development@headinghomeinc.org to discuss ways to feature Heading Home at your next corporate, community, or industry event!

Support 500+ families across Massachusetts by providing new, fully-stocked backpacks for school-age children in our shelters.

Every year, volunteers help children in Heading Home shelters go back to school by collecting and donating school supplies and helping assemble backpacks for children in need.

Backpack Buddies runs from July to August and this year we will have an in-person event on Wednesday, August 12 in Boston!

Please contact development@headinghomeinc.org if you would like to get involved or visit our event page – https://headinghomeinc.org/backpack-buddies/ to learn more.

Donate to provide gift cards to parents in shelter this holiday season, affording them the opportunity to shop for holiday gifts for their children.

Another way to get involved is by hosting a winter clothing drive. Families are always in need of winter clothing during the cold New England winter months.

  • Winter coats sizes 2T to Adult 2XL
  • Hats
  • Mittens
  • Scarves

If you are interested in hosting a drive, reach out to development@headinghomeinc.org and we can help coordinate.

Bring the comforts of home to our congregate locations by deep cleaning common spaces and shopping for household items, such as kitchenware, cleaning supplies, toiletries, toys, etc.

Beautify and bring life to outdoor spaces by landscaping, planting flowers, building a vegetable garden, and decorating for the holidays at our congregate locations.

Contact development@headinghomeinc.org to learn more and get involved.

Heading Home’s premier volunteer experience, the Up & Out program, pairs volunteers with Heading Home clients, helping facilitate their move out of shelter.

Volunteers work together to outfit an apartment – from purchasing household goods, food, and essentials to building and decorating bedrooms – to alleviate the financial burden for Heading Home clients. This full-day, direct-service opportunity is ideally suited for corporate groups and groups of individual donors who have already made an impact with their giving and would like to do more.

The Up & Out experience is highly selective and reserved for our close partners and major donors – contact development@headinghomeinc.org to learn more about how to get on the list!

“I had the great privilege to participate in my first Up & Out. Eight volunteers and I went to Lawrence to set up an apartment for a mom with a 2-year-old and a newborn. The mom was really emotional as she walked around noticing all the little touches. My favorite moment of the reveal was when I opened the toy box to show the little boy what was inside. He squealed with delight and immediately pulled out the cloth barn book and then the dinosaur play set. It was a moving experience made possible by you all.”

Kim Jalet