Philadelphia is a city of old school doers.  We get the job done; we roll up our sleeves, we’re not afraid of hard work or fixing something that's broken.  But what about when we want to do something good? Where do we go?

Recently, Greater Philadelphia Cares and United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania – the area’s two major volunteer hubs – came together to provide the do-gooders in Greater Philadelphia with a better option.  

As part of our merger we created the United Way Community Action Center, with the sole purpose of providing meaningful volunteer and engagement opportunities for individuals in our community.

At Greater Philadelphia Cares, we built solid relationships with neighborhood block captains and grassroots community groups. United Way brings its connections to the nonprofit community and supplies an incredible number of corporate and community volunteers. Together – those are some powerful resources.

With literally thousands of non-profits across the region, many of them focused on doing their amazing work (and not volunteers), finding them and showing up at their door asking to help may not always be possible or the best course of action.  We’ve taken the time to talk to many organizations throughout the region and find out what they really need help with. All you have to do is check out our community calendar to find what opportunities are out there.  The best part is, you’ll know that your efforts are responding to a real community need.

Want to volunteer today? You can tutor at SquashSmarts, help sort donated school supplies for Cradles to Crayons, or lead activities for seniors at a Logan Square residential care facility.

As the Director of the Community Action Center, I see it as is my mission to make the pathway to involvement in our community as easy as possible. And to me, the really exciting part about volunteering is stepping back to see that we are making transformative change a reality in our communities.

If you know of a group we’re not connected with, please let us know.  Working together, we can create incredible impact.

MARTIN MOLLOY is Director, Community Action Center of United Way of Southeastern PA. Learn more about United Way’s Community Action Center and sign up to volunteer at www.LIVEUNITEDphilly.org/volunteer.