Illustrations by Kaitlin Brito

As the holidays approach and the smell of cinnamon and wet leaves fill everyone’s noses, it feels as if it kicks in some Pavlovian response to be Good. At the same time, volunteering can sometimes be a little overwhelming, especially when it feels like it requires a lot of socializing. But lucky for you all, we’ve got some ideas on how you can help your community without all the yap-yap-yapping that might drain you right before you have to yap-yap-yap with your friends and family.

Run Errands for a Local Animal Rescue

Animal shelters always need an extra pair of hands. We chatted with the people over at Motley Zoo Animal Rescue, who said they need assistance with all kinds of things people don’t always think about. A lot of pet foster parents work and could use the help taking pets to vet appointments, events, or the groomer. The rescue also needs people to pick up food supplies from donating pet stores. If someone wants to volunteer within their own neighborhood, they can go to local businesses around them and hand out business cards and fliers and replenish them when the business runs low. Call up your local rescue or shelter and see what they need. Or reach out to Motley.

Bolster Seattle’s Community Fridge Project

Seattle’s local community fridge organization has a lot of duties that allow people to do some solo volunteering. Reid Branson, a community fridge coordinator, said he himself is an introvert and can happily accommodate anyone interested in helping out but uninterested in a lot of small talk. The main thing people can do for the program is drop off food, Branson said, whether that's prepared individually packaged meals, or perishable items such as string cheese, fruit, or even shelf-stable stuff for the pantries that accompany the fridges. People can also help clean out old food and sanitize the fridges. To become oriented with the group, they’ll ask you for at least one initial meet-up, but that can be in person, by email, or Instagram message. They’re really chill about how you connect, and the time commitment is about 30-60 minutes each week, but that can flex, depending on how involved you want to be. That’s a steal for curbing food insecurity in Seattle, in our opinion. Check out Seattle’s Community Fridge network on Instagram for more information, or email them at seattlecommunityfridge@gmail.com. The group’s also hoping to build a website sometime in the future, so if anyone wants to code alone in their home, the group’s excited to hear from you. 

Generally Check Out Mutual Aid Programs

There are local mutual aid programs all across the city—from the undocumented-focused Super Familia King County to the BIPOC Food Sovereignty Pantry—and many of them need people to deliver supplies, put together bags of survival supplies for the unhoused, deliver groceries, or just wash dishes. The Seattle Mutual Aid Coalition literally has a shift that’s just washing dishes after they serve the Peoples Breakfast on Sundays. The project requires people to do at least one social thing—show up at 10 am on Sunday at University Heights and ask to join up—but after that, you can quietly scrub dishes for a little less than an hour and then take off with minimal chitter chatter in between.  

Clear Leaves and Snow and Pick Up Litter

Sometimes people feel like they must volunteer with an organization to make a difference. We think that’s silly. Sure, it feels a little more satisfying for people to see you helping out, but we’re here to tell you we see you, and we’ll know you raked up those annoying mushy leaves that make it hard to walk to our bus stop or grabbed that empty cup skittering across the road. And we’ll DEFINITELY notice if someone, for the love of everything accessible, just shovels the sidewalk in front of their apartment building. Just be careful. People die every year from shoveling walks—seriously! Google it!—so take breaks and make sure your heart can handle it.