Every year, Academy students complete 25 hours of community service. Many do their service learning during the summer. Here are opportunities for students who may not know where to go or who may want to explore new interests.
The Waikiki Aquarium always needs volunteers of all ages, backgrounds and experiences. Volunteers learn about Hawaii’s marine environment and ways to preserve and protect it. The aquarium offers service opportunities from filing to helping employees clean the tanks and feed the animals.
The Hawaii Foodbank, Inc. provides food for hungry families. Volunteers stack and organize food, gather food from communities and distribute food to charitable agencies. The Hawaii Foodbank also operates the Ohana Produce Plus program. Volunteers organize and pack boxes of fresh produce and other needed items and ship them to agency-hosted sites around Oahu for distribution.
The Honolulu Habitat for Humanity is in search of volunteers to help build houses, participate in charity walks and create the weekly informational newsletter. There are weekly volunteer opportunities during two shifts. The first shift is from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. while the second is from 1-5 p.m. Volunteers who can help identify and organize construction tools are greatly appreciated.
“Read to Me International” is a program that helps communities and families develop children’s literacy skills, foster school readiness and promote lifelong reading. During the summer, the program presents an hour of stories, songs and literacy-related crafts for children and their caregivers at Kahala Mall. “Read to Me” is looking for volunteers who can participate at these events.
Habitat for Humanity Leeward Oahu is a local station of a worldwide organization that builds houses with volunteer labor and sells those houses to very low-income families. These homes are located in Kapolei, Ewa Beach and Waianae. Volunteers are needed to build these homes to break the cycle of poverty and hopelessness.
“Kupu,” a Hawaii-based non-profit, is in need of volunteers to bring life back to the people, land and ocean. Volunteers run three main programs: the Hawaii Youth Conservation Corps (HYCC), Urban Corps (UC) and Rewarding Internships for Sustainable Employment (RISE) Program. Volunteers participate in clean-ups and promote the importance of preserving the land.
