Help Impact the Life of a Child
Why Volunteer?
The children we serve at The Children’s Center Utah are seeking the tools and skills to learn how to listen to adults, manage their emotions, play with peers, and succeed in school. By volunteering with us, you can positively impact a child’s development and mental health by joining our “big people” teams in the therapeutic preschool, volunteering at events that support the work we all do here at The Children’s Center Utah, or even support our therapeutic preschool team by cleaning toys and classrooms after hours.
We wouldn’t be able to help the many families and children here at The Children’s Center Utah without the support and dedication of our volunteers!
On the second Friday of every month, a group of explorers from Thanksgiving Point will join our Therapeutic Preschool groups. Their Learning and Engagement team will teach children about bugs, animals, dinosaurs, and more!
This year, at our 10th Anniversary Jewelry Luncheon we had a team of 45 energetic, compassionate, and dedicated volunteers help us raise over $188,000!
Thank you to Optum Health for continuing to send groups of volunteers to clean toys, tables and chairs, and classrooms at The Children’s Center! Optum has sent over 50 volunteers in the past few months and continually show up eager and willing to help in whatever capacity they can. Thank you so much to everyone from Optum who has volunteered with us!!
Our volunteers offer at The Children’s Center Utah the capacity to fully invest in the mental health needs and therapeutic strategies in our group rooms, while allowing the volunteers a chance to model healthy relationships and positive behaviors through interacting with the children. We hope The Children’s Center is a good fit for both you and those we serve!
Volunteer Opportunities
In Person
Therapeutic Preschool Volunteers
Therapeutic Preschool Volunteers
Our Therapeutic Preschool Volunteers spend time in our therapeutic preschool playing with the kids, reading books and playing games, reminding the children of classroom rules and limits, and helping clean up after meals and activities. These volunteers are expected to model positive behaviors through language, behaviors, and interactions aligned with the evidence-based curriculum practiced in our therapeutic classrooms. This volunteer opportunity allows our volunteers to lead by example and act as key players in the support system for our therapeutic preschool specialists!
Children receive treatment for three hours daily, either in the mornings (9 -12) or afternoons (12-3). We provide transportation to get the children to and from our centers. Children are usually in treatment for an average of nine months to a year. Family therapy is provided to each child’s family in order to help the family understand and follow their child’s treatment plan and make changes at home that support what the child is learning in the Therapeutic Preschool Program. Frequent monitoring of the child’s progress at home and at The Center is used to carefully track the child’s performance and make decisions about the length of a child’s treatment.
Details
Time commitment: Our groups run in the morning and the afternoons. We have 4 groups in the mornings and 4 in the afternoons. Volunteers are required to commit to at least one shift a week for a minimum of 3 weeks, but are welcome to sign up for a full day or multiple days a week!
Shifts:
- AM: Monday through Friday 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
- PM: Monday through Friday 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Age Requirements: 16+
Onboarding Requirements: All Therapeutic Preschool Volunteers must attend a training and complete paperwork before they are able to volunteer.
- Background checks: All volunteers over 18 years old must have a background check done through The Children’s Center Utah in order to volunteer in our classrooms. We will need you to provide a copy of an ID (it must be an unexpired document.
- Logging hours: All volunteers will need to be able to use an electronic software called Track It Forward to log and track all hours.
Toy Cleaning
Toy Cleaning Opportunity
Our group rooms are designed to provide a calm, clean environment for our clients to process emotions, work through behavioral challenges, and practice communicating feelings to develop their emotional regulation skills. In order for our groups to run smoothly, our Therapeutic Preschool Specialists need extra support in keeping their group rooms and the toys in them clean and organized. Volunteers can help support our mission, clients, and staff by helping clean and disinfect rooms and toys!
Details
Time commitment: Volunteers can come in to wash toys and clean classrooms from 3:30- 5:00 any day of the week.
Age Requirements: Any age, all minors under 16 will need to be accompanied by an adult.
Groups: This opportunity is great for groups!
Onboarding Requirements: You will need to contact the Volunteer and Development Specialist to get started. All volunteers will need to complete a few pieces of paperwork and schedule all volunteer shifts with the Volunteer and Development Specialist.
Events
Events
Our outreach team attends multiple events throughout the year to raise awareness of the work we do here at The Children’s Center Utah. We travel to different parts of the valley to attend conferences, community events, and other opportunities to share our resources, and impact, and even recruit other volunteers! Volunteers support the Volunteer and Development Specialist by helping staff our booths at community events. We have participated in events put on by the Governor and the First Lady, community resource fairs, and college or other university volunteer fairs!
Details
Time commitment: Dependent on the time frame and needs of each event. These details will be communicated the closer we get to each event!
Age Requirements: Any age, all minors under 16 will need to be accompanied by an adult.
Groups: This opportunity is good for pairs or small groups who are willing to possibly volunteer in shifts!
Responsibilities: Talk with guests about who we are and what we do, share your volunteer experience at TCCU, help set up and take down any booth and tabling materials (very minor lifting required), etc.
Onboarding Requirements: Volunteers will need to reach out to the Volunteer and Development Specialist to be added to our contact list!
Virtual
Group Projects
Group Projects
If you or your group is more interested in doing a one-time volunteer opportunity and are unable to commit to any of our on-site options, we would love to work with you to find a way to create a group project! We are always looking for groups to host donation drives, create games and supplies for our classrooms, or find new ways to get your group started volunteering with us. If you are interested in an opportunity that isn’t listed below, please feel free to reach out to the Volunteer and Development Specialist to discuss how we can work together to find a project for you!
*This is a great place to start if you have a corporate volunteer project you are looking to participate in!*
DIY Projects
At-Home Projects
- Felt board stories
- File folder games
- Matching games
- Room “hunt” games or puzzles
- Create an art project for our kids to do
- Record yourself reading stories for our social media storytime