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Besides offering its own programs, Dartmouth Community Services also links
students with a number of outside agencies, should these agencies better fit
the desires of a student. Dartmouth Community Services currently provides
referrals for the following agencies:
Alice Peck Day Hospital
Alice Peck Day is a local hospital committed to providing quality and personal
care to the Upper Valley community. Student volunteers can help out in a
variety of health care positions at the hospital:
- Volunteering at the Hospital
- Nursing Support
- Rehabilitation Support
- Radiology Assistant
- Blood Donation Support
- Gift Shop
- Immediate Care Center
- Laboratory Aid
- Interaction with residents at Harvest Hill (see Adopt-A-Grandparent)
Email DCS
for details
For more information on organization:
http://www.alicepeckday.org/
Contact person:
Jane S. Darby
Coordinator, Volunteer Services
603/448-7456
COVER Home Repair
COVER Home Repair organizes volunteers to work in partnership with
low-income, elderly and disabled residents of the Upper Valley area to address
their urgent home repair needs. Their projects include roof repair and
construction, wheelchair ramp construction, floor repair, and basic
weatherization. The organization's work is done almost exclusively from
volunteers who comprise their weekend work crews, assist with mailings and
building maintenance, and help with a variety of projects during the
week.
Email DCS
for details
For more information on organization:
http://www.coverhomerepair.org/
Contact Person: Nancy Bloomfield
(Nancy.Bloomfield@alum.dartmouth.org)
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Dartmouth volunteers are an integral part of the institutional fabric and
culture DHMC. Both patients and staff enjoy the help and support they provide.
While helping the hospital, students gain information on medical careers in a
state-of-the-art health care facility.
The following service areas are available for Dartmouth Volunteers (some have a
waiting list):
- Activities Therapy, In-Patient Psychiatry
- ArtCare
- Elder Life
- Emergency Department
- Intensive Care Nursery
- Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC)
- Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
- Same Day Surgery
Email DCS
for details
For more information on organization:
http://www.hitchcock.org/
Contact Person: Linda Laros
David's House
David's House is a comfortable, supportive, home-away-from-home for families
of children receiving treatment at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Since
1986, more than 2,000 families have come from 29 states and three foreign
countries, including Russia. At David's House, these visitors have found new
friends, a support system, and the opportunity to keep their families together
during difficult times.
David's House is located in Lebanon, NH next to the DHMC.
Students volunteer for two hour shifts at least twice a month. Volunteers are
needed in various capacities at David's House:
- Volunteer for one afternoon or evening a week as House Assistants - greet
guests, making sure they are comfortable, and maintaining general order at the
house.
- Volunteer to help bake or cook treats or help prepare meals for the guests.
Help with child care, office work, or maintenance needs.
Email DCS
for details
For more information on organization:
http://www.davids-house.org/
Contact Person: Karen Larimore
Good Beginnings
The Good Beginnings program is a home visitor program that gives help to Upper
Valley families with newborn babies. The goal of Good Beginnings is to offer
support to new parents through the first few months of parenthood.
Volunteers are matched with families and meet with them weekly to help them
in their role as new parents. Volunteers pitch in and help out the new families
and can assist parents in obtaining service or just be a friend to talk to.
Additionally, student volunteers can provide child-care during parenting
classes and clinics by reading to and playing with the children.
Email DCS
for details
Good Neighbor Health Clinic
The GNHC provides primary health and dental care to persons with inadequate or
no health insurance. All staff, including medical professionals, are
volunteers. Students have the opportunity to learn first-hand about the issues
of rural poverty, community medicine, and the health care crisis.
Dartmouth students are needed to help with admissions during clinic sessions
(MWF, 5-8). Volunteer openings are available approximately every other week or
once a month.
Email DCS
for details
For more information on organization:
http://www.vccu.org/gnhc.asp
Hannah House
Hannah House offers assistance to pregnant and parenting teens. Volunteers
may serve as tutors, child care providers, or to prepare meals for residents.
Additionally, Hannah House often has opportunities for students to esrve in
one-time home-improvement projects such as painting or yard work.
Email DCS for
details
Headstart
Head Start is a national program that provides comprehensive developmental
services for low-income and learning disabled pre-school aged children as well
as social services for their families. Head Start programs are operated under
grants awarded by the federal government and have been serving children and
their families all over the country since 1965.
Head Start volunteers provide one-on-one and small group interaction with
children by reading to and with them, playing, leading educational games and
activities, walking to the park, and participating in meals. Volunteers are
also needed to ride the Head Start bus, comforting or just cuddling young
children, and directing on-bus songs and activities. Additionally, student
volunteers can provide childcare during the monthly parent meetings and
trainings. Other assistance, such as working on newsletters and parent
tutorials, is also needed.
Email DCS for
details
High Horses
In therapeutic riding, the movement of the horse's back is transferred to
the rider's pelvis and trunk in a precise, controlled way. The effect of the
horse's rhythmic walk offers benefits unattainable through traditional clinical
therapies. High Horses riders are people with a variety of disabilities, such
as Down Syndrome, autism, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, spina bifida,
learning disabilities, as well as emotional and behavorial problems.
Trained volunteers - dedicated community members who devote time, energy and
a great deal of love - are the core of the program. Some serve as "sidewalkers"
for students who need this assistance. Others serve as horse leaders to help
riders that need help guiding their mounts.
Email DCS
for details.
Humane Society
Upper Valley Humane Society volunteers provide stimulation and exercise to
animals who are, of necessity, confined and sensorially deprived in cages.
Volunteers help them participate in rehabilitation and reintroduce the trust
and skills the animals will need to coexist in a human world.
Ways to become a Humane Society Volunteer...
- Help the Animals. Everything volunteers do makes the animals more content
and adoptable: walking, giving attention, grooming, & training.
- Help the Staff. Volunteers can assist the UVHS with animal related tasks
and organizational support.
- Create and Contribute. The more human resources the UVHS can develop to
support the shelter operation, the more it can raise the humane values and
standards in the shelter and the community.
Volunteer opportunities include:
Dog walkers * cat socializers * pet groomers * shelter meeters/greeters *
clerical task assistants * and much more...
Email DCS
for details
For more information on organization:
http://www.uvhs.org
Outreach House
Retirement can be a financially difficult time. Most seniors depend on a
fixed income for survival and may have insufficient funds to meet costs such as
medical care incurred later in life. The Outreach house helps alleviate this
burden by providing an assisted living facility for lower income elderly
persons. In addition to subsidized housing, residents also benefit from service
and support provided by Outreach house staff and volunteers.
There are many ways in which volunteers can help the Outreach house achieve
its goals:
- Companions to the Residents
- Home Helpers
- Transportation Helpers
The Outreach House is located on South Park Street in Hanover. Just across
from the baseball field and Leverone Field House, it is a short and easy walk
from campus.
Email DCS
for details
School Volunteers
Dartmouth volunteers tutor in the Hanover School district at Ray Elementary
School, Richmond Middle School, and Hanover High School. In addition,
volunteers work with students in Lebanon at Lebanon High School.
Assist with:
- One-on-one tutoring for "at risk" students
- Tutoring highly motivated students who want extra attention
- Exploring the potential use of classroom computers with teachers and
students
- Leading special group projects
- Serving as a teacher's assistant
- Helping out with P.E. classes
- Coaching sports teams
- Chaperoning field trips
- Setting a positive example for a child in grades K-12
Email DCS
for details
VA Medical Center
The federal government maintains several medical centers across the nation
to service the health care needs of military veterans. Because the VA Medical
Center in White River Junction, VT is federally funded it employs a limited
number of staff and welcomes the services of volunteers and work study students
in the diabetes clinic, radiology, and pulmonary.
This need allows students who volunteer at the VA Medical Center to become more
fully integrated into the health care providing process than is possible at
other larger facilities in the Upper Valley. The VA Medical Center is excited
about establishing lasting relationships with its volunteers. To insure that
students are engaged in their service, the VA takes great efforts to place
students in areas that most fit their interests.
Email DCS
for details.
VT Adaptive Ski&Sport
Vermont Adaptive Ski&Sport (VASS) provides recreational programs to
individuals with disabilities on a year round basis throughout Vermont.
VASS believes that recreation provides a physical, mental, and social
experience that is immeasurable in promoting self-confidence and independence
in individuals.
Dartmouth Student volunteers help VASS by teaching and assisting the
participants with activities. During winter term, volunteers teach adaptive
skiing at Pico Mountain at Killington, VT - a 1 hour drive from campus..
Email DCS
for details
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