Coordinator – Judy Stevenson
Assistant Coordinator – Sheila Lynch
Training for the following volunteer opportunities is usually “on the job” unless there is a special session offered. Please call the contact person listed for the opportunity you are interested in with any questions. You may also contact the Volunteer Opportunities Coordinator.
ALLEN CENTENNIAL GARDENS
Contact: Ryan Dostal (608-576-2501)
Website: www.allencentennialgarden.org
Hands-on gardening projects including planting, weeding, and other garden-based activities, depending on time of year. We provide the necessary tools. The Allen Centennial Garden is open dawn to dusk, year-around.
FRIENDS OF THE UW-MADISON LIBRARIES
Contact: Libby Thune, administrator
Website: www.library.wisc.edu/friends
Volunteers help with our semi-annual book sales, which occur at the same time as the Wisconsin Book Festival in the fall and the week after spring break in the spring. Tasks include setting up for the sale; and, during the sale, keeping the tables orderly and the books in their appropriate categories, as well as answering questions, and cashiering.
MADISON FRIENDS OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS, INC.
Contact: Nancy Kelly (608-263-4010) or Diane Boddicker
Website: www.mfismadison.org
Volunteer opportunities include: providing short-term housing (2-3 nights) for arriving students and scholars; a fall picnic; Thanksgiving hospitality; a mid-year Capitol reception; English conversation classes on Zoom; Global friends remains active using safe physical distancing and remote contact. The status of Thanksgiving and other proms is pending. Check the MFIS website for information.
UW ARBORETUM
Contact: Judy Kingsbury (608-262-5604)
Website: www.arboretum.wisc.edu/get-involved/volunteer/
Volunteers staff the reception desk, work in the gardens, walk the trails, and propagate plants. Training and tools are provided.
UW LAKESHORE NATURE PRESERVE
Contact: Bryn Scriver (608-220-5560)
Website: www.lakeshorepreserve.wisc.edu
Volunteers participate in habitat restoration projects. Activities include planting native plants, trail maintenance, and removal of invasive plants. Work is done in groups of volunteers.
WILLIAM S. MIDDLETON MEMORIAL
VETERANS HOSPITAL (VA HOSPITAL)
Contact: James Barnett or Joe Naylor (608-280-7030)
Website: www.madison.va.gov/giving
Volunteers assist in many areas such as volunteer escorts, office aides, drivers, Information Desk and waiting room attendants, and Emergency Room aides. Assignment schedules are flexible and vary. Requirements for becoming a VA volunteer include a background check, two tuberculosis screenings done at the VA, proof of influenza and Covid vaccines, and a new volunteer orientation.
WISCONSIN HISTORICAL MUSEUM
Contact: Michael Marshall (608-264-6555)
Website: Wisconsinhistoricalmuseum.org
Volunteers assist in our mission to collect, preserve and share stories. Positions available include Information Desk, Public Tour Docent and Educational Tour Guide. Schedules are flexible; training is provided. Benefits include discounts and passes to historic sites.
AMERICAN FAMILY CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
Contact: UW Health Volunteer Services
Tina Nelson 608-263-6046 or Julia Modest
Website: www.uwhealth.org/volunteer
Volunteers should submit an online application from the website and state whether they are more interested in interacting with adults or children, and which hospital they’d like to work in. The on-boarding process can take 1½ to 2 months due to compliance requirements.
At the Children’s Hospital, volunteers read to children or engage the in activities while they are waiting for treatments and appointments. Requires a six-month minimum commitment.
At the UW Hospitals and Clinics, volunteers help anywhere from the Main Information Desk to inpatient Hospital units, making a patient or family members more comfortable.
UNIVERSITY LEAGUE
GREAT DANE READERS
Contact: Mary Warfield
Once a month from September until May, volunteers read to preschool classes of students from low income families of Dane County. After reading, volunteers present each child with a copy of the book to keep and read to their families.
PBS WISCONSIN
Contact: Michael McKenzie (608-265-4436)
Katie Dreps (608-262-8508) is the contact for pledge drives.
Website: www.pbswisconsin.org/volunteer
Volunteers support public television by staffing fund-raising and community outreach events. Volunteer jobs include answering calls on the phone bank during the annual on-air membership drives in March, May, August, and November/December, helping place donation calls for the Online Auction between the Months of January and May, and serving in a variety of roles during the Great Wisconsin Quilt Show in September and Garden and Landscape Expo in February.
UW HOSPITAL AND CLINICS
Closed
Contact: Tina Nelson, UW Health Volunteer Services (608-263-6046)
Website: www.uwhealth.org/volunteer
At UW Health, our volunteers play an important role in the overall success of our organization. They assist patients, their families, and visitors to our facilities and are valued members of the health care team.
Information on how to become a volunteer can be found on the Volunteer Services website.
UW ODYSSEY PROJECT
Using some volunteer activities
Contact: Emily Auerbach (608-262-3733)
Website: www.odyssey.wisc.edu
The UW Odyssey Project, a free college humanities course for adults near the poverty level, helps students overcome adversity and achieve dreams through higher education. Interested UL members are needed to help with meals, fund raising, tutoring, providing childcare, office support, technical support, publicity and arranging speaker arrangements. Odyssey Junior serves over 50 children ages 2–18 on Wednesday evenings in South Madison. Odyssey Beyond Bars extends transformative education into Wisconsin Prisons.
The website describes the current volunteer needs and has a Volunteer Interest Form.
WISCONSIN FILM FESTIVAL (DIVISION OF THE ARTS)
Contact: Terry Kerr or 608-588-4330
Website: wifilmfest.org/volunteer
Volunteers support the Wisconsin Film Festival with Festival preparations and set up (March/April) and with ticket taking, line management, filmmaker hospitality and events during the Festival (April). In appreciation for donated hours, volunteers receive Festival film tickets and a volunteer tee-shirt.
