Volunteer
Poverello House welcomes anyone with a heart to serve. Because of our dedicated volunteers we are able to serve more than 1,600 meals a day. Poverello House would not be able to offer the wide variety of services it provides without the daily assistance of the wonderful volunteers.
Contact
Poverello House
(559) 498-6988
There are many opportunities to help at Poverello House:
- Serving meals to the homeless at breakfast, lunch or dinner
- Helping with food preparation, such as cutting meat and vegetables
- Sorting food items
- Assembling bag dinners
- Helping clean the kitchen and dining room
- Picking up trash on the ground around the property
- Gardening, weeding, pruning, and planting
- Sorting clothing and canned food items in our warehouse
- Assisting with Naomi's House chores and activities
- Special events and projects as needed
Orientation
Volunteer orientation is mandatory in order to volunteer at Poverello House. During orientation, individuals will be assigned a unique ID number. This ID number helps us keep track of all volunteer hours. Volunteers will need this ID number to sign-in at the contact office when volunteering. During this time, volunteers will learn the volunteering guidelines at Poverello House.
Orientation is located at Poverello House, 412 F Street Fresno CA 93706. Orientation lasts about 45 minutes to an hour; be prepared to stay the entire time. At this time students may bring any service learning papers that need to be completed. If you are interested in volunteering after orientation, please make sure to be in dress code: pants, T-shirt and closed-toe shoes.
Selected Friday's
3:30 p.m.
Selected Saturday's
10 a.m.
Please view calendar for dates
Individuals
All volunteers under 18 must be accompanied by an adult parent/guardian at all times. Poverello House accept volunteers ages 7 and up. After attending orientation volunteers may contact the Jessica Munoz, Volunteer Coordinator, to schedule a time to come and volunteer.
Group Volunteering
Poverello House welcomes your business, school or social group to volunteer. Groups are three or more people interested in volunteering together. Groups must call in advance and schedule a time to come volunteer. It is best to give 3 to 4 weeks’ notice, if possible. Groups must designate one person over 18 as a leader who will be responsible for attending one volunteer orientation on the group’s behalf. The group leader is responsible for giving his/her group an overview of Poverello House and its guidelines. Each group will be given a unique ID number to sign in with.
When calling to schedule a time to volunteer, please give an estimate of how many plan to volunteer for the date scheduled and how long you plan to stay. Sometimes it’s possible for groups to do special projects outside of the daily organizational operations. Groups interested in such projects are advised to call far in advance to give Poverello House staff time to plan the event. Such one-day projects are good opportunities for larger groups (up to 30 people) to participate.
Students
Students of all ages may complete community service or service learning hours at Poverello House. Students involved in service learning groups such as communications, marketing or social work classes must each individually attend an orientation. Your hours will be tracked and time sheets will be available upon request. Bring any service learning forms that need to be signed and completed to orientation. Please contact Kristina Flores, Donor Relations Manager, first to make sure there is room for service learning projects.
Internships / Externships
Internships are considered on a case-by-case basis, and are dependent upon current needs of the organization as well as the potential intern’s individual talents and experience. Anyone interested in pursuing an internship with Poverello House should call and speak to the Volunteer Coordinator.
Externship placements are usually in specific areas of expertise such as culinary arts. We have had interns from many institutions such as California State University, Fresno; Fresno Pacific University; Mennonite Biblical Seminary; Fresno Institute for Urban Leadership, and the Institute of Technology.
Court-Ordered Community Service
In order to participate, you must be 18 years old; have a picture ID; court paperwork and complete orientation specific to court-ordered community service. Participants must work a minimum of five hours each day. Please contact Poverello House at 559-498-6988 for additional information.
Court-Ordered community service Orientations are offered every Thursday at 10 a.m.
Papa Mike’s Café
Papa Mike’s Café was inspired in 2006 by Poverello House Food Service Director/Chef Tito Olazabal. The concept is simple - have a restaurant and café style night of dining once a month for clients and allow them to pick from different entrees on a menu. Our volunteers serve as waiters and waitresses and our kitchen is ready to serve. Our clients enjoy the restaurant-style atmosphere and enjoy being served. Papa Mike’s Café is held the second Thursday of every month at 4:45 p.m.
Volunteering During the Holidays
Individuals and groups who want to volunteer on Thanksgiving and Christmas must sign up in advance. Typically, 50 volunteers are signed up for each day. Because we have so many volunteers signing up for these days, we ask that we do not have groups larger than six people. The list for Thanksgiving volunteers opens the first Monday of November and for Christmas it opens the first Monday of December. Contact Poverello House for more information.