La Casa de los NiñosVolunteering
There are many ways to volunteer at La Casa de Los Ninos. In our free after school program, extra-curricular activities include art, music, computer homework help, cooking and healthy food preparation, sports and outdoor games, a library.
The children participate in community activities including beach clean up,, recycling and composting programs. The program functions Mondays- Thursdays from 4-6pm.
The Circulo de Chicas y Circulo de Chavos are special programs for both pre-teen girls and boys. A new project, Hola La, a clothing store full of beautiful new and second hand donated clothing is a ‘learning lab’ for the girls in the Circulo de Chicas, where they gain skills in working with the public, including English speaking skills, money handling and responsibility for the arranging and care of the merchandise.The Circulo de Chavos have guest instructors for drumming, manualidades (wood and other crafts) learning the care and use of specialized tools, and finding positive outlets for their abundant physical energy. Volunteers have taught piano, flute and ukelele, offered Yoga and Hula classes.
Volunteers can assist in the classroom in a myriad of ways from sharpening pencils and cleaning paintbrushes to helping translate to Spanish for voluteers who don’t speak Spanish but have a project they want to offer. You can view some of the volunteer activities on our website:
La Casa operates from 4-6pm daily Monday-Thursday and there are several ways you can participate
Temporary staff Volunteer: With a minimum of a two week committment, volunteers with Spanish speaking ability can be responsible for specific projects and activities.
Full time temporary staff: Participate in 12-15 hrs/week of classroom and preperation activity.
Special Activity Volunteer: Can offer a specific activity for a specific period of time, ie Yoga class daily for one week, drumming in the boys circle 2x/week for one month.
Support Volunteer: Without Spanish speaking skills can provide a wide variety of support tasks, either on or off site, on a one time or on a regular basis. This is arranged with the volunteer coordinator based on the volunteer’s availability.
Special Services Volunteer: Volunteers on the grief healing path are invited to contact the founders to create the program that will fit the needs of all involved.
Volunteers at La Casa are welcomed to find a niche that fits their capacities, desires to learn, and time availability. There are short term options such as one week of teaching yoga, or ukelele, and longer time commitments such as one or two months working 2-4 days/week.
Volunteers with some capacity for speaking Spanish can work directly with the children, but there are other roles for those who want to support or even be present with the children without a direct supervision or teaching role. These tasks might include sharpening pencils, replenishing/cleaning paint supplies, baking the birthday cakes for the monthly birthday parties, to name a few.
The primary teacher and founders review all applications and develop a participation plan for each volunteer that match the program’s needs with the skills and availability of the volunteer.
Volunteers have participated and led a very wide spectrum of activities during the last few years.
- Beach clean up
- Recycling and composting program development
- La Casa’s boutique thrift store ‘Hola La!
- Circulo de Chicas y Circulo de Chavos -special programs focused on La Casa pre-teens
- Volunteers have taught piano, flute and ukelele, Yoga and Hula classes
