March is a season of fresh starts—a time when longer days and brighter skies remind us that small actions can spark meaningful change. It’s also a perfect moment to step forward and give back. Whether you’re lending a hand at a community event, supporting local families, or sharing your skills where they’re needed most, volunteering is how we turn hope into action. This month, we celebrate the individuals who show up, pitch in, and make our community stronger for everyone.

Spark Curiosity and Learning
Volunteers at the Children’s Discovery Museum ignite curiosity and support children, families, and educators across Northern Minnesota through hands-on play and exploration. From opening Dino Dig sandboxes and guiding interactive exhibits to prepping and leading creative art activities, volunteers bring energy and imagination to every experience. You’ll engage with visitors, enhance learning moments, and help keep exhibits welcoming and organized. If you love working with kids and making a positive impact, this is your chance to help young minds explore and dream big each day. Get involved.

Share your Skills
Volunteer at Grace House and turn your talents into meaningful impact. Whether you enjoy teaching, creating art, organizing, cooking, or simply listening, your unique abilities can support individuals experiencing homelessness on their journey toward stability. Volunteers help lead classes, facilitate activities, assist with daily operations, and build encouraging relationships. With flexible scheduling to fit your availability, sharing your skills is a simple yet powerful way to strengthen lives and move our community closer to lasting solutions. Start now.

Clothed in Confidence
Make a meaningful impact for children and families at Foster Love Closet. Volunteers help create a welcoming space where families can find clothing and essentials that build confidence and comfort. Serve behind the scenes by receiving, sorting, and organizing donations on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, or support families and help keep store operations running smoothly on Thursdays. Shifts are available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Your time and compassion help ensure every child leaves feeling valued, prepared, and supported. Take action.

Inspire Every Day
Make a difference every day in the life of a young person by volunteering with the Boys & Girls Club of Grand Rapids and Greenway. We’re seeking patient, caring adults to provide positive supervision and encouragement in our afterschool program. Volunteers support homework help, reading time, arts and crafts, classroom projects, and playground activities. Your presence helps create a safe, supportive space where kids can learn and grow. Volunteers needed Monday through Friday afterschool at Robert J. Elkington Middle School. Sign up.

Support the Journey
Mission Restart is seeking compassionate volunteers who want to make a meaningful difference in the recovery community. If you’re passionate about supporting others on their healing journey, flexible opportunities are available to fit your schedule, including weekend and evening shifts. Volunteers answer non-crisis support calls, offer encouragement, and connect individuals to helpful resources and services. No experience is necessary—training is provided. Gain hands-on peer support experience, build connections, and make a lasting impact in someone’s life. Learn more.

Sign up for these opportunities—or explore dozens more ways to give back—by visiting volunteer.uwlakes.org.

Volunteer Itasca, powered by United Way of 1000 Lakes, serves as our region’s central hub for volunteerism — connecting individuals to meaningful opportunities that strengthen our community. Through this shared platform, nonprofits can post opportunities and manage volunteers at no cost, thanks to United Way’s investment in building community capacity.

In the past year alone, volunteers committed more than 1,600 hours of service to nonprofits across Itasca County, helping organizations advance their missions and expand their impact throughout the region.

If your organization would like to post volunteer opportunities — or if you’d like to refer a partner organization to join — contact Molly Hiipakka, United Way’s Community Impact Coordinator, at 218-999-7570 or molly@uwlakes.org. Membership is free and includes personalized technical support, along with access to the Volunteer Coordinators Network, a quarterly gathering of volunteer engagement professionals committed to strengthening recruitment, retention, and impact.