It’s not always easy to know where help is needed. If you feel like sewing for a cause, especially during the holiday season, it’s a great way to find local groups that need your help.

VolunteerMatch.org matches volunteers’ interests and skills with location-based opportunities. Just put in your ZIP code and enter a keyword (sewing, mentoring… etc.) and the website generates a list of openings.

Here are just three calls for volunteers with sewing knowledge that came up for “sewing” in VolunteerMatch.org‘s opportunity finder:

• We are looking for a volunteer who is passionate about sewing and can use a sewing machine … who can assist people with developmental disabilities to use a sewing machine for simple sewing projects.

• We have over three hundred students in our school and every year we have a dance festival … every child’s costume is hand-made and originally designed. We need people who are familiar with sewing and costume design to assist us in this large effort.

• We are seeking energetic, enthusiastic and motivated individuals to develop and conduct a weely Basic Sewing Class for our lively seniors who are interested in learning how to use a sewing machine and learn the basics.

I realize that in rural areas, you won’t see the same number or diversity of calls for help – but you never know until you give it a try.

If you do live in the New York City area, those three opportunities are for:

• a volunteer sewing instructor with AHRC Nassau;
• a volunteer costume designer and maker for the children at the Brighton Ballet Theater / School of Russian American Ballet;
• and a basic sewing volunteer instructor for the Catholic Charities, Diocese of Brooklyn & Queens,

respectively!

If you’re part of a group or cause making things better through sewing, tell us what you’re working on and how to contact you in a comment on this post.