Volunteer Opportunities

Collaborating Service

 

Many service opportunities are available for students on and off campus. If you are interested in volunteering please come by our office located in the Student Services Building, call (903)-233-4482, or email Lindahiggs@letu.edu.

American Red Cross - Gives help to victims of disaster; provides emergency communications between military personnel and their families; teaches first aid, CPR, swimming, lifeguarding, and other safety courses.

The American Red Cross Blood Services supplies the demand for blood and blood products to the three local hospitals in this community.  Volunteers are needed to help in  donor recruitment, marketing , education, design  and distribution of information pertaining to blood drives held in the local communities. One out of every three individuals will need a blood transfusion sometime in their lifetime.  Together, we can save a life.   Must have own transportation.

The Arc of Gregg County - Services include day care, social activities, physical education, Special Olympics, and educational enrichment programs.  Counseling service for parents and family members is also available.  Legal advocacy to the mentally disabled included.

Asbury House —Volunteer and internship positions exist for students interested in helping to provide, within a nurturing Christian environment, the highest quality of education and care for children of low income families.  

Boys and Girls Club of Gregg County, Inc.— The mission of the Boys and Girls Club is to enhance the quality of life of its members for today and to provide opportunity for development into productive citizens for tomorrow.  The organization provides only youth services that seek to help its members to develop their talents to their maximum potential.  Young people of all nationalities, races and creeds join in wholesome recreation and companionship.

Buckner Children and Family Services - This organization serves our community through a variety of means: educating families in how to care for children, attempting to find foster care for children who have been removed from homes, providing the physical needs of low income families and Christian counseling.

Camp Fire USA  —The purpose of Camp Fire, Inc. is to provide, through a program of informal education, opportunities for youth to realize their potential and to function effectively as caring, self-directed individuals responsible to themselves and to others; and, as an organization, to seek to improve those conditions in society which affect youth.

East Texas Child Advocates, Inc. —The mission of the Children’s Advocacy Center of East Texas is to lessen the emotional trauma to the children by coordinating the multidisciplinary investigation, assessment, prosecution and treatment of child abuse. This organization recuits and trains volunteers to represent the best interests of children in the court system.  CASA volunteers are appointed by a judge to speak up for abused and neglected children.

East Texas Council of Governments —E TCOG's Area Agency on Aging, which provides help with nursing home complaints, education, recreation, health screening, food banks, transportation for elderly, and minor home repair.  Other divisions are Workforce Development, Criminal Justice; Municipal Planning and Zoning, Community Development, Composting, Litter Abatement, and Economic and Community Development, which maintains population and demographic data for region, water and sewer projects, solid waste management, and air quality planning.  Opportunities exists for internships and volunteers.

East Texas Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse —Provides a 24-hour toll-free counseling hotline (800- 441-8639), free confidential counseling and support groups for abusers, family, friends and employers. Speakers, videos and literature for schools, churches and community organizations are available for professionals.

East Texas Literacy Council —An adult program with tutors trained to work one-on-one with students is offered at no cost to those in need.  Programs for family literacy, workplace literacy,and English as a second language are also provided.

Highway 80 Rescue Mission - To  preach and teach the word of God so that lives can be transformed from the inside out.  II Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new."  Programs include: Chapel; shelter, food, and clothing; New Creation Programs; Hope Haven for Women and Children; and community involvement. 

Hope Haven - A subsidiary of Highway 80, volunteers are needed in Chapel programming, shelter, food, clothing, and New Creation Programs for homeless women and children.

Hospice Longview, Inc .—Hospice services enable terminally ill patients to remain at home for the duration of their illness. The Hospice team is dedicated to the promotion of the physical, social and spiritual well-being of persons whose life expectancy is limited. Volunteer opportunities are available for services such as: companionship for the patient and/or family; bereavement services; light housekeeping and/or yard work; and running errands.  

LifeCare Hospice - exists in the hope and belief that, through appropriate care and the support of a caring community sensitive to their needs, terminally ill patients and their families may be free to attain a degree of mental and spiritual preparation for death that is satisfactory to them. LifeCare Hospice offers a specialized team of individuals including physicians, nurses, home health aides, and volunteers. Without a volunteer program Hospice could not exist. Our Volunteer program includes visiting with and companionship for our patients, caregive relief/support, office assistance, fundraising, bereavement services and seasonal lawn care. Through our volunteers we are able to provide assistance to the patient and enable them to die with dignity and provide support for the families during this difficult process.  

Longview Child Development Center - Year-round childcare and preschool programs for children six weeks to six years old.  Parents must work, be enrolled in job training, or attend school or college.  Salaries for working parents must fall within guidelines which prove their need for the program.

Longview Community Ministries - Services include Meals-on-Wheels and the Food Box, which dispenses food to Longview residents in need.  Services as an information and service center for emergency needs, including utilities, shelter, transportation and medicine.

Longview Habitat for Humanity — This organization is nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry that has built more than 100,000 houses worldwide with families in need of safe, decent, affordable shelter.  Through volunteer labor and tax-deductible donations, Habitat works with partner families to build houses that are sold at no profit and are financed with affordable, no-interest mortgages.  Partner families make a down payment and monthly mortgage payments, in addition to investing their own labor—sweat equity—to help build their house and the houses of others.  Their mortgage payments go into a revolving Fund for Humanity to help build even more homes.  There is a local chapter on campus.

Longview Teen Court — Provides juvenile misdemeanor offenders an alternative to the criminal justice system by allowing juveniles an opportunity to accept responsibility for their actions by performing community service in lieu of paying a fine. 

Parenting Resource Center - Provides education to strengthen families, break the cycle of violence, and help families in the process of adjustment and recovery from divorce.

Salvation Army/Longview Family Services - Provides comprehensive emergency assistance, including food, clothing, medicine, furniture, temporary shelter, and transportation.  The Longview Family Service program is administered for temporary assistance to the needy.

Texas Association of Developing Colleges —East Texas Educational Opportunity Center—This center offers career counseling, college selection counseling, academic counseling, and financial aid counseling for adults 19 years of age and older.  Opportunities are available for technical education for staff and clients; tutoring; help with surveys, counseling; and study skill workshops.

Windridge Therapeutic Equestrian Center of East Texas, Inc .—Serves individuals who are challenged with disabilities and /or situations in their lives which are debilitating.  Students benefit through a structured therapeutic horseback riding program, which provides therapy, exercise and education to people with mental emotional, and physical challenges.

Women's Center of East Texas - Provides emergency services for abused and sexually assaulted victims as well as shelter for clients.  Referral services, professional counseling support groups, 24-hour crisis hotline, and educational programs also available at no charge.  Hotline number is (800)441-5555.