Volunteer
Thank you for your interest in volunteering at Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh! We are so happy to have you. WC&S began as a volunteer run community organization more than 50 years ago. Today, we still depend on volunteers to support our work in many ways.
As a domestic violence agency, our emergency shelter is home to families in transition because of domestic violence. In our role as staff and volunteers working in the shelter space, we all want to do our part to respect and maintain the safety of this environment for the sake of our residents’ well-being.
Women’s Center & Shelter offers different opportunities depending on the size of your group.
Please take a moment to read the WC&S Community Care Agreement. When joining staff and residents in the shelter space, we ask that you please respectfully observe these community standards. Children under the age of 16 are not able to volunteer at WC&S.
Group Volunteering
Small Groups
Most volunteers who give their time to Women’s Center & Shelter come as part of a small group (3-11 people) cooking meals in our shelter kitchen, or hosting parties for the shelter residents and their children.
Preparing a Meal
Making a meal for the shelter residents is the most popular opportunity we offer, as well as one of our biggest needs. Volunteers plan the menu, purchase the ingredients, and then work together in WC&S’ fully equipped industrial kitchen to prepare lunch or dinner for everyone in our emergency shelter.
Read our Meal Preparation Guide for answers to commonly asked questions and more information about planning a perfect meal.
Hosting a Party
It takes a lot of work to start over. The residents staying in WC&S’ shelter are busy every day making sure they can be confident in their safety when they leave. Volunteer-hosted parties give them a welcome break from the stress and struggle of beginning anew.
Parties can be planned for all residents or just the children. Some party ideas include:
Arts and crafts nights
Ice cream socials
Board game nights
Bingo
Holiday parties
To learn more about small group volunteering at WC&S, please contact us at community@wcspittsburgh.org.
Large Groups
Women’s Center & Shelter does not often have big projects that require large numbers of volunteers to complete. To avoid any disruptions to residents who are staying in our emergency shelter, it’s important that we thoughtfully plan each opportunity for a group larger than 12 people.
If you have a large group (12 or more people) who would like to volunteer at WC&S, please contact us at community@wcspittsburgh.org.
Individual Volunteering
Note: Individual volunteering slots at WC&S are currently filled. We will update this page when it is re-opened. Thank you for your understanding.
WC&S has a very limited number of opportunities for individual volunteers, typically during work hours Monday through Friday (we unfortunately do not have availability on weekends due to limited staffing). Individual volunteers do an array of jobs at Women’s Center & Shelter. If you would like to be added to our volunteer list to be notified when volunteer opportunities arise, please contact community@wcspittsburgh.org
