How You Can Fit Volunteering Into Your Busy Schedule

These days, it’s easier than ever to contribute your valuable volunteering time – particularly if you’re interested in helping young children.

AARP Foundation Experience Corps is actively looking for volunteers to help children become better readers by the end of third grade. We want to hear from you especially if a virtual volunteering structure works best for your schedule or circumstances.

With Experience Corps, you can give back virtually either at a school in your own community or in another part of the country. In both cases, you’ll be providing educational and mentoring support at a critical time in the lives of young students, helping to break the cycle of poverty in high-need communities where opportunities may be lacking.

Research shows that children who are reading by third grade are far more likely to graduate from high school, attend and complete college, earn higher incomes, and have overall better life outcomes.

If you’ve been looking to make a rewarding contribution, becoming a virtual Volunteer Tutor may be your most convenient — and impactful — option.

Why volunteer virtually?

Over the last few years, giving back from home has become more and more popular. Thanks to easy-to-use video chat platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, working online is common.

AARP Foundation has its own proprietary tutoring platform that was built specifically with our students and volunteers in mind.

Children today are also used to screens in the classroom — it’s just part of their school day. Best of all, becoming a virtual Volunteer Tutor enables you to give back in a way that works for YOU.

Here are some of the reasons our volunteers choose the virtual route with Experience Corps:

• Schedule is too busy to commute to on-site locations
• Mobility issues make leaving the house difficult
• Limited access to convenient transportation options
• No reading programs are available nearby

Today, you can make a difference in the classroom without the challenges of everyday logistics. What matters most is your desire to share your knowledge, time, and experience with children in need of extra guidance.

Benefits of virtual volunteering

Whether you’re on-site or giving back remotely, Experience Corps is a convenient way to contribute in meaningful ways to your community – or a community with a pressing need.

Watching a child’s eyes light up when they “get it,” is a wonderful feeling. Even better? Tapping into the wealth of experience you have at this stage in your life.

Our Volunteer Tutors feel more useful and connected to the world around them:

• 96% reported feeling better about themselves
• More than 85% felt that their lives had improved
• 96% reported that the program increased their sense of purpose in life

And when you volunteer virtually, you receive an added benefit: the opportunity to build new technology skills — which are transferable to other aspects of your life, including at work or at other volunteer commitments.

What you need to know

Not only does Experience Corps provide plenty of training on how to use technology to tutor online, but it also makes sure you’re never on your own in the classroom, offering a peer network and ongoing support.

To become a Volunteer Tutor, you will need to:

• Undergo a criminal background check (because you are working with young children)
• Complete a two-day training with a local organization administering Experience Corps
• Commit to tutoring and tracking student progress once or twice per week

Tutoring sessions take place during the school year in one-to-one or small group settings of no more than three students. Volunteer Tutors have the summer off.

I always say K-3 is for learning to read, and after that, it’s reading to learn. If you can’t read, you’re in big trouble.

Calvin Leonard, Longtime Experience Corps Tutor and 2023 President’s Lifetime Achievement Awardee for Volunteer Service