Volunteer Opportunities

Be a Mentor

Have an afternoon free during your week? Children at one of our partnering agencies would love to hang out with you. You can help with homework, play games, and be an all-around good role model for young people. We’re always looking for friendly, compassionate people to help out in new and exciting ways.

Building Blocks Afterschool Program

Assist our instructors working with children grades K - 5 in housing support shelters. Our volunteers help the kids with homework, reading, and writing activities. The time commitment is 2 - 3 hours, one day per week, Mon - Fri, 3 - 6pm. Afterschool volunteers must be able to commit at least 3 months to the program.

Summer Program

Assist our instructors working with children grades K - 5 in housing support shelters. Help prevent summer slide with reading, educational games, art, field trips, journaling, and more! The time commitment is July - August, Mon - Fri, 8:30am - 2:30pm.

Teen Outreach Program

Work with high school students on college & career prep, subject tutoring, and mentoring to jump-start their futures. We match each volunteer with a single high school student, with whom they will meet for individual tutor sessions once per week for one hour. Scheduling is based on student needs and generally takes place between 2 PM and 6 PM. Sessions can be virtual or in-person

Raise Awareness

It doesn’t take much to spread the word – tell your coworker, talk about it while you’re getting a haircut, share your thoughts with a friend over coffee.  Just moments of your daily life can spread awareness for the need to educate these kids to break the cycle of poverty.

Outreach Team

Join us on the 3rd Tuesday each month at 5:30pm to discuss ways to promote community awareness, action, and friend-raising to advance the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness. The Outreach team also supports our special events & Homeless Children's Awareness Week.

College Students

Help raise awareness on your campus! Check for an existing service group or talk to us about how you might get one started!

Support Our Events

Want to join an event committee? Be a team member to plan and execute our public events, including Champions for Children. We look for dynamic, creative people with time to focus on making our events successful and fun.

Looking for a one-time commitment? Assist with setup, breakdown, the auction, and check-in at an event. Sort backpacks 2 – 3 hours one day in August. Run or work a water station at the Pittsburgh Marathon. Or we could always use a hand with administrative work at our office.

Support our annual Champions for Children Gala by donating an auction basket. You and a group of friends can pitch in together! For instructions and item form click the button above.

HCEF is proud to be an official charity of the Pittsburgh Marathon, in order to keep our status HCEF will be running a water station in Highland Park. We are looking for 10 enthusiastic and encouraging people to cheer on runners and hand out water.

Volunteer Hours Logged (2020)

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Interested in volunteering? Let us know.