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It Takes a Village

Learn more about how you can volunteer to help local organizations in need.


  • The Backpack Project (Homeless Services)

    • Inspiring people to pack a backpack for the homeless & deliver it with kindness.

  • Bridge Communities (Homeless Services)

    • The mission of Bridge Communities is to transition homeless families to self-sufficiency by working with partners to provide mentoring, housing, and supportive services.

  • CASA of DuPage County (Child Welfare)

    • The mission of DuPage County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) is to recruit, train and support volunteer citizen advocates to effectively speak to the best interests of abused, neglected, dependent and vulnerable children in the DuPage County court system. CASA’s vision is that every child deserves a safe, permanent, nurturing home.

  • Clear Ribbon Foundation (Family Services)

    • Clear Ribbon Foundation is a non-for-profit foundation that comes alongside widows and widowers following the death of their spouse to provide short, mid- and long-term support, for them and their surviving children, in forging a path of hope and healing.

  • Diveheart (Special Needs)

    • To build confidence, independence and self-esteem in the lives of children, adults and veterans with disabilities through scuba diving, scuba therapy and related activities.

  • Downers Grove Area FISH (Hunger Relief)

    • Downers Grove Area FISH is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit organization which has served local communities since 1969. Our services include a food pantry, clothes closet, financial assistance, and transportation.

  • DuPage Animal Friends (Animal Welfare)

    • The mission of DuPage Animal Friends is to strengthen the lifesaving, compassionate and innovative initiatives at the county shelter. We partner with the shelter to understand the needs of our community's animals, providing financial resources and advocacy on their behalf. Our vision is that DuPage County will be a community where all pets have a home.

  • DuPagePads (Homeless Services)

    • The mission of DuPagePads is to end homelessness in DuPage County, Illinois. Our signature year-round programs feed and shelter individuals and families who are homeless, connect them to case management and other services that can address the underlying cause of their homelessness.

  • DuPage Senior Citizens Council (Senior Citizens)

    • At DSCC, we live out our mission statement every day by staff and volunteers who dedicate their days, weeks, and years to improving the lives of those who are most frail, vulnerable and often forgotten. In other words, we ensure that each senior we serve goes to bed each night knowing they are truly loved.

  • Family Shelter Service (Crisis Services)

    • Since 1976, Family Shelter Service has answered the call in our community to help victims of domestic violence escape abuse and rebuild their lives. We work to eliminate barriers, provide faster, greater and more equal access to services in an environment where survivors can feel supported and empowered to disentangle from their situation. Together, we are building community and providing lifesaving services and critical programs to serve our clients as they restore their self-worth and their lives.

  • Feed My Starving Children (Hunger Relief)

    • You will hear us say this again and again: “We want to reach everyone, until ALL are fed.” We truly mean this. This means reaching the hard-to-reach people and places, the “least of these.” They will be found, and they will be fed.

  • The GardenWorks Project (Hunger Relief)

    • The mission of The GardenWorks Project is to promote organic suburban agriculture to improve the well-being of our community, the environment, and those facing food insecurity. We empower, educate, and support all food growers in their efforts to nourish their families and neighbors in need.

  • Grit2 (Youth Development)

    • To empower parents and teens to flourish in mind, body and spirit by connecting them and the community with information, tools and resources.

  • Habitat for Humanity - Chicagoland (Community Development)

    • There is a staggering need for housing support in the Chicago metro area and an opportunity for Habitat to do even more than it does. CHFH was created to leverage capacity building, growth, marketing and advocacy by working in collaboration with the eight affiliates across Chicagoland.

  • Hinsdale Humane Society (Animal Welfare)

    • The Tuthill Family Pet Rescue & Resource Center operated by Hinsdale Humane Society is a nonprofit animal shelter providing innovative care and adoption services for all animals, including those that are harder to place. We educate, advocate and adopt out pets, acting as a voice for animals who depend on people for their care. We nurture the human-animal bond through community outreach and progressive programming, to help ensure the compassionate treatment of all animals.

  • Hope’s Front Door (Homeless/Family Services)

    • Hope’s Front Door often acts as a “first responder” to neighbors who are facing financial and/or medical crises. When clients walk through our doors we determine their immediate needs, we help them with either food, medical, dental and/or transportation vouchers, plus a clear pathway into the network of social agencies that can assist them with the long-term restructuring of their lives, by helping move them out of living a “crisis to crisis existence”.

  • Loaves & Fishes Community Services (Hunger Relief)

    • Our mission is to provide healthy food and impactful programs to promote self-sufficiency.

  • Midwest Shelter for Homeless Veterans (Veterans)

    • To ensure that no veteran is left behind due to homelessness, joblessness, poverty and/or mental-health issues. Our desire is to ease suffering for veterans and their families and to empower veterans to become self-sufficient, productive members of their communities.

  • The Morton Arboretum (Environment & Conservation)

    • The mission of The Morton Arboretum is to collect and study trees, shrubs, and other plants from around the world, to display them across naturally beautiful landscapes for people to study and enjoy, and to learn how to grow them in ways that enhance our environment.

  • My Block, My Hood, My City (Community Development)

    • My Block, My Hood, My City provides underprivileged youth with an awareness of the world and opportunities beyond their neighborhood. We take students on explorations focused on STEM, Arts & Culture, Citizenry & Volunteerism, Health, Community Development, Culinary Arts, and Entrepreneurism.

  • NAMI DuPage County (Mental Health)

    • Our mission is to provide support, advocacy and education in order to improve the quality of life of individuals with mental illnesses and their families.

  • Navigating Adolescence (Youth Development)

    • Navigate Adolescence is a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization that provides weekend workshops designed to help young people navigate their relationships. All of our programs are designed to align with and support social and emotional learning standards.

  • Operation Support Our Troops - America (Military/Veterans)

    • Our mission is to support the morale and well being of American forces by providing comfort, resources and education to them and their families both while they are deployed in harm’s way and after their return. We accomplish this by providing a link between the citizens and military personnel so that everyone has the opportunity to express their support. This allows us to send comfort packages of items that are not readily available to our troops in their deployed locations, along with personal letters, cards and notes of support from the community at large.

  • PAWSitive Therapy Troupe (Animal Therapy)

    • The PAWSitive Therapy Troupe is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to sharing registered therapy dogs with individuals in a wide variety of health care and educational settings--bringing comfort, support and encouragement through the unique healing power of the human-animal bond.

  • People’s Resource Center (Family Services)

    • People's Resource Center community exists to respond to basic human needs, promote dignity and justice, and create a future of hope and opportunity for the residents of DuPage County, Illinois.

  • Reclaim13 (Crisis Services)

    • Reclaim13’s mission is to end the cycle of sexual exploitation. This cycle begins in an individual’s life, and without intervention, continues into the next generation. Most trafficked children were sexually abused, neglected, or received other forms of maltreatment as children. Once abused, a child is more vulnerable to further abuse and, potentially, exploitation. Child sexual exploitation has potential long-term consequences in the life path of survivors, including vulnerabilities for intimate partner violence, further abuse, and involvement in damaging relationships. Reclaim13 intervenes in this cycle and works toward a world where all children can grow up feeling safe and loved.

  • Ronald McDonald House (Family Services)

    • We exist so families can get better together. We believe when a child is sick, a family is sick. That’s why, since 1977, we have kept families together with their hospitalized children through our Ronald McDonald House® and Ronald McDonald Family Room® programs, enabling them to get better together.

  • Safe Families for Children (Family Services)

    • Safe Families for Children hosts vulnerable children and creates extended family–like supports for desperate families through a community of devoted volunteers who are motivated by compassion to keep children safe and families intact.

  • SCARCE (Environment)

    • We help people discover how easy it can be to make a meaningful difference for our kids, for our environment, for our future…and often for all three at once.

  • SEASPAR (Special Needs)

    • We are committed to our mission of providing dynamic recreation programs and quality services for our residents with disabilities. Our vision is to enable our participants to discover abilities, achieve potential, and realize dreams. We operate with the core values of fun, excellence, service, respect, and accountability.

  • Sharing Connections (Family Services)

    • Sharing Connections brings together community members by enabling families and businesses to share their gently used furniture, household items and clothing with families needing assistance. This is a unique opportunity for the community to directly make an impact by passing on something they no longer need to make a difference in the life of a family.

  • Share Our Spare (Family Services)

    • Our mission is to ensure every child in Chicago has the essentials they need to thrive in the first five years of life. We do this by collecting new and gently used baby items from those with “extras” to spare and distributing them to families living in poverty through a sustainable network of volunteers, community stakeholders, and social service agencies.

  • Special Olympics Illinois (Special Needs)

    • Provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

  • Teen Parent Connection (Family Services)

    • To serve the community through education on the realities and responsibilities of teenage pregnancy and through long-term assistance to adolescent parents for their development of self-esteem, parenting skills, and empowerment towards self-sufficiency.

  • USO - Illinois (Military)

    • The mission of the USO is to strengthen America’s military service members by keeping them connected to family, home and country, throughout their service to the nation.

  • Watts of Love (International Relief Services)

    • Watts of Love is a global solar lighting nonprofit bringing people the power to raise themselves out of the darkness of poverty.

  • Wellness House (Cancer Wellness Services)

    • In 1990, we started Wellness House with a single mission: to better the lives of people living with cancer and the people close to them. Today, we offer a variety of programs and services — exercise classes, nutrition seminars, support groups, and more — that complement the treatment from your doctors and specialists. It’s a whole-person approach to healing, and it’s offered at no cost to you.

  • West Suburban Community Pantry (Hunger Relief)

    • The Pantry operates year-round with a goal that each eligible family in DuPage County, Bolingbrook, and Romeoville receives nutritionally balanced food, including meats, dairy, and fresh produce monthly. We are also registered as an emergency food pantry for Illinois.

  • West Suburban Human Society (Animal Welfare)

    • At West Suburban Humane Society, our mission is to work towards the day when all dogs and cats are loved and cared for and pet owners have access to essential resources so they may enjoy a fulfilling relationship with their pets.

  • YWCA Metropolitan Chicago (Youth Development)

    • YWCA Metropolitan Chicago is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.


Do you have a non-profit organization to add to the list? Please email us to let us know!