Children & Family Programs Volunteers
Requirements for all volunteer roles
- Sensitivity and openness to persons of culturally diverse backgrounds. High degree of patience, understanding, and flexibility.
- Pass Federal Background Check and driving record check (if applicable).
- Attend a General Volunteer Orientation and role-specific orientation prior to starting.
- Clear time and space in your schedule for your commitment
- Record and report volunteer hours.
R.I.S.E. Club - After School Mentor (2024-2025 School Year):
Program Summary: First and foremost, R.I.S.E. is a community - where students from all over the world can belong! We cultivate peer connections so students can laugh together, speak their home languages plus learn English, and practice social-emotional skills like goal-setting and conflict resolution. Students are also highly encouraged to develop a trusted relationship with a mentor, creating space to ask questions about school/U.S. culture or collaborate on challenges they are facing in their daily lives. Curriculum focuses on homework help, engaging STEM and art projects, and English vocabulary & speaking.
Regular Volunteer Role: When joining R.I.S.E., you get the chance to bring the whole of who you are - to build our community culture, befriend individual students, and support activities planned by staff.
*Ask about bringing your kids with you to volunteer! (Not guaranteed, but may be an option)*
- Commitment: 1x a week, ideally through the entire school year (but not required - let us know your availability)
- Schedule: TBD, likely 3-5pm + 15 minutes of set-up/briefing and clean-up/debriefing.
- Location: Local elementary school in North Seattle
Requirements:
- Creative, energetic, flexible, and thoughtful, with a love for connecting with children
- Experience tutoring or providing academic support is helpful, but not at all required
- Bilingual, immigrant/refugee background, or experience working in cross-cultural environments welcome! Pashto, Dari, Russian, or Ukrainian speakers are especially needed.
- Able to pass a federal background check
- Consistently report volunteer hours
School Success Coach (Virtual or In-Person; Flexible Scheduling)
Program Summary: Refugee students often face unique challenges that can cause them to fall behind in school due to their circumstances. They may struggle with gaps in academic knowledge, difficulty understanding homework, and the pressure of learning a new language, all of which can feel overwhelming. On top of that, they have to navigate being "the new kid" while trying to rebuild a sense of home in the U.S. Our School Success Coaching program is designed to support these students by pairing them with dedicated mentors who provide both academic tutoring and the friendship they need to thrive. Students set a personal goal representing what they would like to achieve in their time working with a coach, such as "learn all the letters and numbers of the alphabet," "get a passing grade on the end-of-year math test," or "learn enough common English phrases to make a new friend in my class."
Program is available to students 6-18 years. Volunteers are matched with students based on the grade levels they feel confident supporting and their weekly availability.
Regular Volunteer Role: Meet with a student weekly to complete homework assignments together, practice academic concepts, and tackle English vocabulary and grammar. Experience tutoring is not required, though Coaches should feel comfortable meeting with the student individually. School Age Programs Coordinator can support with brainstorming activity ideas, conversation starters, and facilitating connections with student's parent and teachers, in order to discover topics for practice.
- Commitment: 1x weekly for 1 hour (or more, if available!). Meet-ups can be either virtual, in-person, or a combination. We ask that volunteers commit to at least a semester, to provide stability and meaningful growth for the students.
- Schedule: Very flexible on timing! Regular weekly schedule is set based on volunteer/family preference. Volunteers share their availability and will be matched with a family who can meet at a preferred time (generally evenings and weekends, due to school schedule).
*Note: Volunteers may experience a wait time before being matched with a student, depending on status of waitlist*
Requirements:
- Creative, energetic, flexible, and thoughtful, with a love for connecting with children and youth
- Not required, but always helpful: Experience teaching or tutoring; specific specialties a plus
- Additional languages other than English are a high need, particularly Dari, Pashto, Ukrainian, Russian, or Spanish
- Weekly availability, at a regular time of your choosing
- Able to pass a federal background check
- Consistently report volunteer hours
Volunteer Driver - Early Learning Family Outings
*Women-Preferred!
Early Learning and Family Support Program
Program Summary:
This program is catered to refugee families with children ages 2.5-5 with the goal of preparing both children and parents to enter America’s education system ready for Kindergarten. In the home, we provide learning resources, strategies, tools, and a wide range of supports to assure that the family’s needs are being met. We also provide family engagement opportunities to broaden learning opportunities! These include visits to parks, museums, libraries, and for the first time ever, the zoo! The goal of all family engagement trips is to create a sense of community among the participants as well as foster connections to the community they are resettling to foster confidence, comfort, and independence. We also integrate learning opportunities into trips like this- encouraging parents to foster their children’s language, math, reading, physical, and social development.
Volunteer Role:
As a volunteer driver, you will get to meet and interact with refugee families and their children first-hand! You can help foster language and social skills, creating a sense of trust and comfort simply by being present with the family. Within our program, we have over seven different languages represented. We will have some interpretation available in-person, but whether you speak their language or not, there will be opportunities to connect.
Commitment:
Long-term, we are hoping to connect with a group of women who are passionate about supporting refugee families and have capacity to support transportation needs once a month. We are hoping these initial opportunities will help both staff and participants form lasting connections with individuals who want to make an impact by providing access to amazing opportunities like this. Our once-a-month family engagement event will usually take about 3-5 hours of your time, depending on the activity and duration.
Dates & Times:
TBD for Fall 2024
Location:
TBD for Fall 2025
Responsibilities:
- Join classroom/group activities, projects, large group learning time, or playground sessions under the guidance of program staff. For example, assist with crafts or buddy up with a student to practice new skills.
- Support students where needed, bring positivity and energy to the program, and help create a welcoming environment.
- Support parents in supervising children during field trips and visits from community organizations.
- Complete mandatory onboarding processes and attend a volunteer orientation session.
- Coordinate with staff member to pick up and drop off families using a personal vehicle and assuring appropriate car seats are present (World Relief has some available for use as needed)
- Uphold participant confidentiality by not sharing personal information or taking photos, videos, or audio recordings without special permission
Additional Information:
The majority of our current participants come from Afghan culture. In this culture, women and men are most comfortable being separated. Women in particular prefer not to be alone with men. When attending trips, feel free to engage as you would, but keep in mind this aspect of their culture and avoid separation from the group to assure all participants feel comfortable, safe, and respected.
We are not able to cover parking for these trips at this time.
Field Trip Chaperone (Spring 2025)
School Age Programs
Program Summary:
Field trips offer invaluable experiences that go beyond the classroom, helping them to adjust to their new environment while fostering personal growth and important new friendships. These outings provide opportunities for exploration and learning, introducing the children to local culture, nature, and history in a hands-on way. Field trips can help build confidence, spark curiosity, and encourage social interaction, which are crucial for students' emotional and psychological well-being. Additionally, these experiences promote a sense of belonging and inclusion, helping the children feel more connected to their new communities.
Volunteer Role:
As a Chaperone, you will create relationships with a small group of students and guide them as they experience the day's activities. You get to experience the beauty and fun of our field trip location through the eyes of someone who has never been before - whether it's an island, state park, or museum. Volunteers should feel comfortable walking moderate distances (1-3 miles) in an outdoor environment.
We are looking for volunteers who are comfortable supporting transportation needs to create important access pathways for families, but this is not a requirement to join.
*Ask about bringing your own children, if it makes the day more doable! We will do our best to include them if we can (some destinations have limited capacity; many are very flexible).*
Commitment:
Sign up for one trip, multiple, or year after year! This is an amazing opportunity to learn and support our refugee neighbors in a fun, engaging, and unique way!
Dates & Times:
TBD for Spring 2025, typically for a full day on a Friday or Saturday
Locations:
TBD for Spring 2025
Responsibilities:
- Join group field trip activities under the guidance of program staff.
- Chaperone a small group of students through the day's activities, under guidance of program staff
- Bring positivity and energy to the day, and help create a welcoming environment.
- Complete World Relief onboarding
- If able, coordinate with staff member to pick up and drop off families using a personal vehicle
School Navigator (Ongoing, Sept-June)
Program Summary: For many recently arrived families, tackling a brand new education system in an unfamiliar language is a major challenge with limited orientation opportunities. Many families find themselves inundated with school communications, wandering a new neighborhood searching for their bus stop, or being passed between school staff looking for how to advocate for their children. School Navigators are assigned to families with temporary needs navigating school for their children, easing the transition towards a flourishing academic future.
Regular Volunteer Role: School Navigators are flexible, bouncing between various engagements for either a couple hrs, a day, or perhaps a couple weeks of check-ins with the same family. List of opportunities will be sent to available Navigators, who can opt in to support if their time allows. Specific experience is not necessary; many activities involve fairly straightforward knowledge of local cultural norms. A friendly face willing to support some simple troubleshooting goes a long way!
- Commitment: Availability on any schedule; simply be willing to pick up a task if it fits your week or month. Requests would be sent to all Navigators via email, and it's totally up to the you whether or not you are available to support.
- Location: Flexible - may be at a family's home, or at a local school. Volunteers have the option of setting a preferred location boundary for assignments.
Requirements:
- Patient, kind, and passionate about welcoming and supporting newly-arrived families
- Comfortable navigating basic school-related day-to-day information (for example, communications, class schedules, transportation system, picture day, calling teachers, etc.)
- Additional languages other than English are a high need, particularly Dari, Pashto, Spanish, Ukrainian, or Russian
- Availability and willingness to support regularly, according to your schedule
- Able to pass a federal background check
- Consistently report volunteer hours
Kinders Camp Leader: Summer 2025
*Special group opportunities also available - please reach out to RSchlitkus@wr.org for more information about supporting summer programs with your church, club, or special interest group.*
Program Summary:
Recently-arrived refugee children in the United States face the unique challenges of adjusting to a new cultural environment, mitigating past traumas associated with immigration and seeking refuge, learning a new language, and adjusting to a new way of living. World Relief Western Washington’s (WRWW) Refugee Youth Summer Academy Kinders Camp (RYSA—Kinders) 2025 will be a multi-week program focused on helping newly arrived refugee children prepare to enter Kindergarten.
We create a diverse, supportive community for children to set them up for success both in school and in life. We focus on providing school-readiness experiences, dual-language vocabulary practice, social-emotional learning, and peer connection. Using culturally responsive, trauma-informed, play-based learning methods, we offer transformative and meaningful experiences for children to learn, grow, and develop their true potential. To achieve this, we are seeking passionate individuals who will step up as leaders for our wonderful students.
Volunteer Role:
Join our summer program community and befriend refugee children! As a leader, you will experience a summer of unforgettable memories – walking alongside kids as their eyes are opened to new experiences, forming relationships with a diverse and passionate team, expanding and challenging your worldview, and getting an inside look at the world of refugee resettlement.
- Commitment: 1-2 days a week, on the same day of the week, for 4 weeks (e.g.: every Tuesday and Friday).
- Dates & Times: July & August 2024, exact dates TBD
- Location: Kent, WA
Responsibilities:
- Join classroom activities, projects, large group learning time, or playground, under the guidance of summer academy staff (for example, making a craft with a small group or buddying up with one student to learn new English words
- Jump in wherever needed, support students that could use a friend, and bring positivity and energy to the program.
- Supervise a small group of kids as we connect with local parks, organizations, and kid-friendly spaces (field trips and visits from community organizations)
- Complete mandatory World Relief onboarding process and attend virtual RYSA Volunteer Orientation, date TBD
Next steps
The first step is to fill out a volunteer application. Don't forget to mark Youth Programs as your area of interest. Once you submit your application, follow the steps to complete the online orientation and register for a local training.
All volunteers are required to attend both the general and local orientations, complete an application*, and undergo a background check before starting. At the training you will learn about World Relief's work, the refugees and immigrants we serve, and what it looks like to come alongside them as volunteers in different roles
*Required for new volunteers and returning volunteers who have not submitted an application in over a year. Background checks must also be renewed yearly.