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For university and high school students, teachers, and others who usually get breaks during the summer months, the opportunities for engaging volunteering work are limitless.

Volunteering not only delivers help to groups, individuals, or animals that need it, but the volunteer himself or herself personally benefits as well. When we take the time to serve others with our time and energy, we have a chance to “get out of our heads” and focus on something truly beneficial for the world.

Here is a sampling of the greatest ways to volunteer this summer.

Volunteer Digitally

COVID-19 has changed many aspects of everyday life, including how we volunteer. You can expect much more volunteering opportunities in the summer of 2021 to take place on the web. The good news, at least, is that you can volunteer digitally from the comfort of your air-conditioned home, so there’s a silver lining.

Opportunities to volunteer digitally include a one-on-one mentoring program with a youth in your region, do some accounting or other administrative work for a local nonprofit (not the most fun volunteering gig but someone has to do it), or providing career counseling if that is an area of interest to you.

Work at a Farmers Market

Farmers markets are increasingly popular alternatives to traditional grocery stores. Rather than large companies importing food for sale from far and wide, farmers markets are community affairs. Local growers sell their foods (usually organic) and other homemade goods to their neighbors.

You have several options for volunteering at a farmers market if it sounds interesting to you. You could help a local vendor with a food demonstration, coordinate community outreach to spread the news of the farmers market, or help set up or break down the market.

Donate Used Goods

Volunteering doesn’t necessarily have to mean spending long hours at a soup kitchen or youth center; you can also give back by donating used goods. In the summer months, certain items are in particularly high demand by groups that deliver these goods to the underprivileged, including bug spray, deodorant, water bottles, and sunscreen.

The sky’s the limit for volunteering work in the summer; the ideas here are just a small sampling of what is available. Use your imagination and your best talents to find the right volunteering niche that suits you.