If you're looking for love, you can log on to any of a number of apps (among them Tinder, OKCupid, Her, Match.com -- there's even one called Coffee Meets Bagel) and swipe your way to a first date.
If you're looking for a project, a program, or an event that could use a little bit of your volunteer time, Volunteer Match is the site for you. Want to help a charity at a Springsteen concert? Teach a child to read? Prep meals for homebound seniors? Whether you have a couple of hours, or a couple of hours each week or each month, Volunteer Match has options for you.
Get started by signing up for their listings email. When you receive it, you can select your areas of interest. I always check Education and Literacy, and Immigrants and Refugees, and sometimes Community or Seniors; they have listings for Arts, Animals, Human Rights, Technology, Health, Women, Veterans and more. Review the list of current opportunities, and if anything floats your boat, the site will send a notice of your interest to the organization. I usually hear back from the contact person within a day or two, and can continue the conversation from there.
Some of the things I've done through Volunteer Match were one time only, like the day last June when my husband Ted and I, and our friend Linda, signed up to help with a Boston history event for school kids on Boston Common. Organized by the Friends of the Public Garden, Making History on the Common invited 700 Boston public school students in grades 3-5 to learn about Boston history in the first public park in the US. Ted and I were assigned to the oh-so-popular snack tent; Linda went to the equally popular public protests tent. We spent a morning being part of this fun and well-run annual event, and I'll definitely sign up again next year.
I've also found one-off volunteer gigs with Cradles to Crayons and Room to Grow. One year, for Martin Luther King Day, Ted and I signed up for a morning of assembling math and science kits for public school students. And I connected through Volunteer Match with my first ESOL opportunity with Jewish Vocational Services, which turned into a longterm commitment that I love.
Why not give Volunteer Match a try for your own area? Start by entering your city on the home page, and see what's there for you.
Next Spring, Ted and I might sign up to help on Duckling Day (pictured above). Want to join us?