Martha's Table: Volunteer to Help Fight Poverty

Martha's Table tackles DC-area poverty through short and long term solutions. Martha's Table's mission is to help at-risk children, youth, families and individuals in the community improve their lives by providing educational programs, food, clothing and enrichment opportunities.
They do this by providing tutoring and extracurricular programs for students and youth; preparing and serving meals to the homeless at various places around DC; and running a thrift store from clothing donations from the community.



Volunteers are usually able to assist in the following areas:

• Preparing Food - 7 days a week from 10 to 1 pm. Must be 9 years old or older.
• Working with children in the Day Care - 5 days a week from 9:30 to 1 pm.  Must be 14 years old or older.
• Tutoring and/or mentoring in the children and youth programs.  Must be 16 years old or older.
• Sorting clothes in Martha's Outfitters - Tuesday through Saturday from 9 to 3 pm.  Must be 16 years old or older.
• Staffing McKenna's Wagon, mobile soup kitchen - 7 days a week from 4:45 to 6:45 pm.  Must be 15 years old or older.
• Organize an event.

Note: Martha's Table has a specific program for students seeking to earn community service hours.

Contact their Volunteer Assistant at 202.328.6608 x 212 or email them at volunteer@marthastable.org to schedule a School Community Service appointment and Orientation.

Tutor with Growing Together

Growing Together is a non profit program that offers affordable tutoring to students from moderate and low income families in the Washington, DC area who need help to reach their full potential in reading, writing, language, and/or math at kindergarten through eighth grade levels.

Growing Together Tutoring has a location at Harriet Tubman Elementary, 3101 13th Street, NW. Tutoring sessions take place on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday with three one hour sessions between 2:30 and 5:30 p.m.

To sign up to tutor with Growing Together, click here. The volunteer sign-up form is at the bottom of the page.

Community Service Clubs: Green Club

Want to get outdoors once final time before the semester ends?

Good news! Green Club will have their final meeting of the semester Thursday, December 8th after school in Room 111 (Ms. Mabry's room).

Students will be able to work in the garden, plan activities for next semester, and discuss the success of the Farmer's Market!

Want to hear even better news? Green Club is one of three TMA clubs that helps you earn service hours. That's right! Every meeting that you attend you earn 1-2 service hours!

Whether you're an expert gardener or still trying to figure out the difference between a plant and a weed, come to the meeting next Thursday. All TMA students are welcome!

Questions? Contact Ms. Boehle-Silva, Ms. Fried, or Ms. Lee.

Tutoring and More at For Love of Children

For Love of Children is an organization that seeks to improve the literacy and math skills of DC students through tutoring, academic workshops, a Scholars Program, and their Outdoor Classroom. Work with elementary and middle school students as tutors, teaching and program assistants, and other support roles.

To see all of FLOC's volunteer opportunities, click on their volunteer page: (here).

Note: One of FLOC's sites is accessible via the A5 from the Anacostia Metro Station.

Volunteer at The Family Place

The Family Place DC provides services to families with young children in the Mt. Pleasant area. Students can volunteer at The Family Place's three different programs: Family Literacy, Family Wellness, and Family Stability. Each of these three programs has many different components, and students can contact The Family Place for more information: email them at info@thefamilyplacedc.org or look for their postings on Idealist.org and VolunteerMatch.org. You can also contact them at 202-265-0149.

Focus on Education: Crossway Community

Looking for new ways to approach and experience education? Challenge yourself to think outside the box by volunteering with Crossway Community!

Crossway Community is an organization focused on reducing poverty and creating social change through education.

In their own words: "We maintain a deep belief that every individual and family is capable of success when equipped with a set of educational, professional, and personal tools. Our programs are both evidence-based and need-based and assist our students in cultivating the skills necessary to succeed in today's economy and society."

Crossway Community has three different programs that students can volunteer with: the Family Leadership Academy, the Crossway Montessori Programs, and the Community Lifelong Learning Center.

At the Family Leadership Academy, young mothers are provided with the opportunity and the resources to reshape their lives and learn to be effective parents. While mothers are participating in the Family Leadership Academy, their children attend the Crossway Montessori Programs, where they are encouraged to become independent, creative, and able thinkers. The Community Lifelong Learning Center brings the community to Crossway's campus through a variety of recreational, cultural, and civic events, activating Crossway's mission to foster community, creativity, and learning for all families.

The core of all of Crossway's programs is the belief that education is the key to success, and that every family, regardless of income or other factors, deserves the opportunity to succeed.

To learn more about Crossway Community's volunteer opportunities, fill out the "Volunteer Form" on their website: find it here or contact them by phone at (301) 929-2505 or email them at http://crossway-community.org/support-us/volunteer.

Be sure to let them know that you're a high school student looking to earn community service hours!

Bring Your Pet With You: People-Animals-Love

People Animals Love (PAL) has a Pet Visit Program that allows volunteers and their pets to visit nursing homes, hospitals, libraries, and other places in need of TLC in the DC metropolitan area.

Note that PAL's Pet Visit Program has several requirements: 

• Pets and their owners must take a certification class (which costs $100).
• Volunteers must be 16 years old, or accompanied by an adult.
• Pets must be well-behaved, spayed, or neutered.
• Pets must also have a health certificate with a current rabies vaccination signed by a veterinarian.

 To begin volunteering, click here. This volunteer page will walk you through the steps to becoming a Pet Visit volunteer.

Circle of Hope: Therapeutic Riding Center

Did you know that you can use your community service hours to try out potential career paths and college majors? 

Interested in any of the following: physical therapy, occupational therapy, medicine, psychology, sociology, social work, athletic training, veterinary work,  non-profit development, fundraising, teaching, marketing, public relations, or event planning?

Apply to volunteer with Circle of Hope, an organization that uses riding or equine therapy to encourage the physical and mental development of children and adults with developmental, psychological, or physical disabilities.

Therapeutic riding was first introduced in the United States in the late 1960s. The approach utilizes instruction in horseback riding and horsemanship skills to assist children and adults with developmental, psychological, or physical disabilities.

To find out more, visit Circle of Hope's volunteer page (here).

Children of Mine Youth Center, Inc

Interested in working with kids?

Want to volunteer at a place close to TMA?

Check out Children of Mine!

Children of Mine Youth Center, Inc. is a volunteer-based after school program dedicated to providing a clean safe haven and loving environment for all youth across the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. From 2:30pm – 7:30pm, four days a week, the Center provides the children with clothes, food, tutoring, counseling, workshops, makes frequent trips to a local church farm, and takes part in field trips to Washington, DC’s cultural attractions.

Ready to start volunteering? See below for more info!

·    Call Ms. Hawkins at (202) 610-1055.  She can give you more information about updated service opportunities at Children of Mine.

·    Address: Children of Mine Youth Center

                                   2263 Mount View Place, SE
                                   Washington, DC 20020

·    Email Address: childrenofmine@verizon.net

Becoming a Regular Volunteer at DC Central Kitchen

Many students know that colleges look for community service hours when considering an applicant. But did you know that colleges increasingly look for students who've demonstrated a commitment to completing their community service hours at the same site over a long period of time?

But what if I don't want to do the same thing over and over again?

There are many service opportunities throughout the DC area that allow students to volunteer in many capacities at the same site. Students can gain experience in many different areas while still demonstrating to colleges that they are capable of making long-term commitments to a community organization. TMA's Community Service Guide will feature these organizations throughout the school year. (To find them, click on the long-term volunteering tab on the upper left hand side of the page).


DC Central Kitchen is one site that gives volunteers several programs to choose from!

DC Central Kitchen turns leftover food into millions of meals for thousands of at-risk individuals while offering nationally recognized culinary job training to once homeless and hungry adults.


 Their mission is to use food as a tool to strengthen bodies, empower minds, and build communities.

They provide breakfast, outreach, and counseling services to chronically homeless people living on the streets, recycle 3,000 pounds of food each day, converting it into 4,500 meals distributed to 100 shelters, transitional homes, and rehabilitation clinics throughout the DC area. These partner agencies then refer clients to DC Central Kitchen's Culinary Job Training program, where they receive the tools to start new careers.

They also employ their graduates in their full-service catering company or by placing them in full-time jobs at restaurants and hotels throughout the region. Today, DC Central Kitchen are expanding their operations, partnering with local farmers to procure fresh produce and begin new revenue-generating social enterprises.

DC Central Kitchen provides several different ways for volunteers to get meaningfully engaged in their work to combat hunger and create opportunity.

To see DC Central Kitchen's many volunteer opportunities, click on this link: http://www.dccentralkitchen.org/volunteer/

Community Service Clubs: Teen Action

Teen Action is a leadership program for TMA students who are interested in getting involved in their community and planning their own service activities. Teen Action members meet weekly with college students from American and George Washington Universities to learn leadership skills, explore the DC area, and plan community service activities for the school. Students earn community service hours for each club meeting they attend, as well as any group activities. Teen Action meets every Wednesday after school in Room 104.

Questions? Email Ms. Boehle-Silva at kboehle-silva@gmail.com or stop by the weekly meeting in Room 104.

Higher Achievement Seeking 11th and 12th Grade Tutoring Volunteers

Need to get your community service hours at a site near TMA? Check out Higher Achievement, a program that gives juniors and seniors the opportunity to tutor students at Savoy after school. Higher Achievement is now accepting applications for study hall aides. Click here to download an application today!

Questions? Email Christie Atlee, catlee@higherachievement.org or Ms. Boehle-Silva at kboehle-silva@tmapchs.org for more information.