15 Winter Volunteer Opportunities for Middle School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 3 hours ago
- 10 min read
Winter break gives you more free time, which can be a useful period to try something meaningful outside of school. Volunteering is one way to make that time productive. It lets you see how different organizations function, how tasks are managed, and how people work together toward a goal.
There are many ways to volunteer, depending on what’s happening in your area or what interests you. Some students help collect and organize food or clothing donations. Others assist in libraries, community centers, or animal shelters. A few choose online volunteering where they can help with writing, design, or digital research tasks.
Starting early also helps you understand what kind of work feels right for you. By volunteering in middle school, you gain exposure to different fields before high school begins. You build a record of experience that shows initiative and reliability, which can be useful for future school applications or internships. More importantly, you get to learn how your time and effort can contribute to a shared goal.
To help you get started, here are 15 winter volunteer opportunities for middle school students!
15 Winter Volunteer Opportunities for Middle School Students
Location: Various Red Cross chapters (nationwide)
Cost: Free
Dates: Year-round (winter programs available)
Application Deadline: None, rolling sign-up through the local chapter
Eligibility: Open to youth (13 years old or older)
The American Red Cross gives you the chance to support local disaster relief, blood drives, and community events. As a middle schooler, you can work alongside Red Cross staff and other volunteers to organize supplies, assist at emergency shelters, or participate in health and safety education. Through this experience, you’ll develop collaboration and leadership skills while mobilizing your community and making an impact. Projects vary by chapter but often include hands-on roles like helping pack emergency kits or canvassing for blood donors. The program also provides training and mentorship, allowing you to connect with professionals in disaster response and public health.
Location: Local Habitat for Humanity sites (national network)
Cost: Free (typically a small insurance fee for minors)
Dates: Year-round (build projects operate through winter in many regions)
Application Deadline: None (volunteers sign up as opportunities open)
Eligibility: Youths ages 14-15, when accompanied by a parent or guardian, to volunteer at ReStores
Habitat for Humanity invites you to make a difference by helping families build and renovate affordable homes. You might find yourself painting, gardening, sorting donations at Habitat ReStores, or assisting on supervised construction sites. Through these hands-on activities, you’ll gain practical building and teamwork skills while contributing to community projects like helping raise walls of new homes to supporting housing repairs for families in need. You can also take part in Habitat’s awareness campaigns and community events, where you’ll strengthen your planning and organizational abilities.
Location: Local food banks (Feeding America affiliates nationwide)
Cost: Free
Dates: Year-round (including winter)
Application Deadline: None – sign up anytime with the local food bank
Eligibility: Open to volunteers of all ages, with middle school students typically participating under parental supervision or as part of a school group.
The Feeding America Volunteer Program gives you the chance to take action against hunger while learning what goes into running a national food relief network. Through local food banks, middle schoolers can volunteer by sorting, packing, and distributing food donations to families in need. In a typical shift, you might bag groceries, stock shelves, or prepare meal kits, gaining a behind-the-scenes look at how communities fight food insecurity. These activities help you build organization and teamwork skills while seeing the direct results of your effort.
Location: Operation Kindness (Carrollton, TX, near Dallas)
Cost: $15 program fee for 4 hours
Dates: Several cohorts per year (including winter sessions)
Application Deadline: Varies by session (see website)
Eligibility: Youth ages 13–18 (teenagers ages 13-15 must be accompanied by an adult)
Operation Kindness Junior Volunteering Program gives you the chance to step into the world of animal care and experience what it’s like to support one of Texas’s leading no-kill shelters. You’ll go behind the scenes, help with daily shelter activities, and end your day bonding with cats and dogs. The program helps you build empathy, responsibility, and confidence as you take part in meaningful animal welfare work. It’s also a great way to explore potential careers in veterinary science or animal rescue while developing teamwork and communication skills.
Location: San Francisco Free Clinic, San Francisco, CA
Cost: Free
Dates: Year-round (ongoing; program is highly popular)
Application Deadline: Rolling (program has a waitlist)
Eligibility: Middle and high school students (grades 6–12)
San Francisco Free Clinic Youth Volunteer Program welcomes middle and high school students interested in exploring healthcare careers. As a young volunteer, you can assist with front-office and back-office tasks such as filing, greeting patients, or offering support in the waiting area. Over a year-long commitment, you’ll gain insight into public health systems while learning how a clinic actually operates. The program is highly selective and provides mentorship from experienced medical staff, helping you build organizational and communication skills.
Location: National parks and monuments across the U.S.
Cost: Free
Dates: Year-round (many parks offer programs and volunteer events in winter)
Application Deadline: Varies by park (check local NPS volunteer listings)
Eligibility: Open to kids and pre-teens (typically ages 5–13); middle schoolers can participate through family or school-organized programs
The National Park Service’s Kids and Pre-teens programs help you learn about nature and how to take care of it. You can join park cleanups, go on guided hikes, and help at visitor centers. These activities show how your actions can protect plants, animals, and land and help you learn by doing and see how parks are cared for every day. You also meet park rangers and other kids who want to help. You learn how to notice things in nature and how to treat the outdoors with care. These programs help you understand how parks work and how you can help.
Location: Olathe Public Library, Olathe, KS
Cost: Free
Dates: Year-round (volunteer meetings and shifts monthly)
Application Deadline: Rolling (apply anytime via the library website)
Eligibility: Middle and high school students (grades 6–12)
Olathe Public Library gives middle schoolers the chance to take an active role in their community library. As a Teen Ambassador, you’ll attend planning meetings, help coordinate youth programs, assist at community events, and promote library services to peers. Other volunteer options include Gaming Assistant and Tech Assistant, where you can run game sessions or tech workshops for younger kids. Each position lets you practice event planning, communication, and leadership while collaborating with librarians and community leaders.
Location: Multiple YVC sites (nationwide network)
Cost: Free
Dates: Projects held year-round (including winter school breaks)
Application Deadline: Varies by location (check local YVC chapter)
Eligibility: Youth ages 11–18
Youth Volunteer Corps (YVC) gives you the chance to be part of a national network of service teams for young people ages 11 to 18, where every project helps both your community and your own growth. Through your local YVC affiliate, you can join supervised projects that focus on meaningful causes like park cleanups, home repairs, or local events. As you paint murals, assist at community gardens, or support charity fundraisers, you’ll build teamwork, leadership, and communication skills while forming friendships with other young volunteers. Since YVC programs run nationwide, you can find winter opportunities such as holiday drives or Martin Luther King Jr. Day events, giving you a rewarding way to give back while growing personally and socially.
Location: Local Special Olympics programs (all 50 states)
Cost: Free
Dates: Year-round competitions and events (incl. winter sports in some areas)
Application Deadline: None (volunteer anytime; training provided by local chapter)
Eligibility: Open to all ages (teens and young adults welcome)
Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools allow you to volunteer and play alongside athletes with intellectual disabilities while building inclusion and friendship in your school. As a Unified Partner, you’ll join practices, cheer at competitions, assist coaches, or help organize school-wide awareness events that promote respect and acceptance. Many programs include unified sports such as basketball, soccer, or track meets, where you and Special Olympics athletes compete together as teammates. By volunteering, you’ll learn empathy, teamwork, and communication skills while helping create a more inclusive community.
Location: New Horizons Senior Center, Narberth, PA
Cost: Free
Dates: Year-round (activities ongoing, including winter events)
Application Deadline: None (just contact the center)
Eligibility: All ages (middle schoolers or older welcome)
New Horizons Senior Center Youth Volunteer Program welcomes you to connect with seniors through creative, engaging, and meaningful activities. You can assist with art, dance, or science classes, offer tech support, or help organize social and recreational events. Many middle school volunteers also co-lead exercise sessions, craft projects, or virtual programs with seniors. At New Horizons, people of all ages, from middle school students to older adults, come together to share experiences and laughter. By volunteering here, you will build empathy, patience, and communication skills while bringing joy to others.
Location: Local Meals on Wheels chapters
Cost: Free
Dates: Year-round (weekday shifts available, including winter)
Application Deadline: None – contact local agency anytime
Eligibility: All ages (students can volunteer; younger kids must be with an adult)
Meals on Wheels offers you a meaningful way to make a difference in your community by delivering meals and connecting with homebound seniors. You might spend a morning picking up meals and driving or walking them along a route, meeting seniors and offering friendly check-ins. In other roles, you could help with meal preparation, office support, or event coordination behind the scenes. Volunteers are expected to maintain good hygiene, dress appropriately, and handle client information with respect and confidentiality, ensuring a safe and caring environment for everyone. Through this experience, you’ll develop organization, empathy, communication, time management, and a strong sense of responsibility while supporting neighbors in need.
Location: Coastal beaches (Los Angeles, CA)
Cost: Free
Dates: Year-round (monthly cleanups, including winter)
Application Deadline: None (open to the public; register online before events)
Eligibility: All ages (minors may need a parent/chaperone for some events)
Heal the Bay Volunteer Cleanups give you the chance to protect the ocean, one piece of trash at a time. Based in Los Angeles, this program hosts regular weekend beach cleanups that welcome middle schoolers who care about marine life and the environment. As a volunteer, you will join a team along the shoreline to collect debris, learn about ocean pollution, and witness the immediate impact of your efforts as the beaches become cleaner and safer. Each event often includes short educational talks about ocean health, giving you a hands-on science lesson in conservation. Over the years, Heal the Bay volunteers have removed millions of pieces of trash from local beaches, showing how collective action can make a difference.
Location: Houston, TX
Cost: Free
Dates: Year-round (volunteer shifts available in winter)
Application Deadline: None (sign up for shifts via website)
Eligibility: Open to volunteers aged 8 and older. Children ages 8–13 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian, with at least one adult for every two children.
Books Between Kids Volunteer Program in Houston lets you turn your love of reading into real impact for children who need it most. This nonprofit collects donated books and distributes them to local kids, helping build home libraries across the city. As a volunteer, you’ll help sort, count, bag, and pack books for delivery while working alongside classmates or family members. You might organize piles by age group, prepare book kits for partner schools, or design posters to brighten up the space. Through these activities, you’ll gain teamwork, organization, and event planning skills while learning about education inequality and sharing the joy of reading. In just one year, more than 1,200 volunteers contributed 4,000 hours to make sure every child could take home books of their own.
Location: Nationwide (school-based chapters in all 50 states)
Cost: Free
Dates: Year-round (activities and campaigns occur throughout the school year)
Application Deadline: None (interested schools can apply anytime)
Eligibility: Open to middle school, high school, and college students.
The American Cancer Society On Campus Program gives you the chance to turn compassion into action by supporting cancer awareness and fundraising in your school. As part of a local chapter, you and your classmates can organize events like the Great American Smokeout, write “love notes” to patients, or organize supply drives for cancer patients’ families. You’ll learn how to plan events, manage projects, and advocate for important causes while working alongside peers who share your passion for helping others. This experience helps you build leadership and communication skills and gives you the pride of contributing to a national movement that makes an impact in your community.
Location: Wayside Waifs Humane Society, Kansas City, MO
Cost: Free
Dates: Year-round (including winter; special events often held during school breaks)
Application Deadline: None (year-round sign-up; training provided)
Eligibility: Volunteers must be at least 16 years old to participate independently. Teens ages 13–15 can volunteer with an accompanying adult.
Wayside Waifs Youth Volunteer Program gives you the chance to turn your love for animals into meaningful action. As a middle school volunteer, you can walk dogs, clean kennels, assist at pet adoption events, or help visitors learn about the shelter. You might also organize donation drives for pet supplies or make enrichment toys that keep shelter animals active and happy. Through these experiences, you’ll develop empathy, responsibility, and teamwork skills while learning about animal care and community outreach. It’s deeply rewarding to know your time helps create cleaner spaces, happier pets, and more successful adoptions.
One more option—The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program
The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program is a program for middle school students to work one-on-one with a mentor to explore their academic interests and build a project they are passionate about. Our mentors are scholars from top research universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Duke, and LSE.
The program was founded by a Harvard & Oxford PhD who met as undergraduates at Harvard. The program is rigorous and fully virtual. We offer need-based financial aid for students who qualify. You can find the application in the brochure!
To learn more, go to our website.
Multiple rolling deadlines for JEP cohorts across the year. You can apply using this application link! If you'd like to take a look at the upcoming cohorts + deadlines, you can refer to this page!
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
Image Source - American Red Cross logo