Volunteers are a major part of life at the Day Home. We have opportunities for youth volunteers through college (and beyond!).
General Volunteering
Throughout the year we have a number of young adults volunteer at the Day Home. These students are as young as second graders up to young adults in high school and college.
Many school are exposing students to service experiences which enhance the children’s understanding of the “gift of giving” as they spend time with the children and staff at Saint Vincent’s Day Home.
Volunteers are beneficial to the Day Home as they assist the teaching staff with the supervision of the children, as well as give our children one-on-one attention as they read stories, play games and interact together.
Teaming up with Day Home students allows the older students to understand and experience serving those in greatest need. For the Day Home children, they experience positive role models and develop a trust for those in our community.
Volunteers come from schools such as: Bishop O’ Dowd, Saint Mary’s College High School, Saint Paul’s, Corpus Christi, Holy Names High School, Saint Mary’s College, Center of the Student Mission and the Oakland Summer Youth Programs, which include Lao Family and Youth Employment Partnership.
Student Nurses
Since 2010, we have had the privilege of having student nurse volunteers from Samuel Merritt University, School of Nursing.
Twice a week, six to eight nurses arrive at the Day Home at 7am, where they assist the staff with health checks when the children arrive to school. All nurses also spend time in the classroom interacting and supervising the children.
They prepare a health and safety learning experiences for the children which they present to each class during the morning circle. These sessions include such topics as teeth brushing, germ prevention, hand washing, car safety, and accident prevention (like how important it is to wear helmets and knee pads when riding a bike, skates or skate boards) which they gear to the age of the children.
Saint Vincent’s Day Home provides opportunities for the nurses to engage, observe, and interact with healthy children, since they generally spend much of their time meeting the needs of children who have serious medical conditions.
The Day Home truly appreciates having the nurse volunteers.