With the school week wrapping up, many students and teachers are excited for winter break. While winter break should be a time for relaxation and family, taking a moment to give back to the community is a worthwhile thing to do. Here are some ideas about where to volunteer and other ways to help when school ends this year.

Currently, the Salvation Army needs some volunteers to be a bell ringer until Christmas. The donations that the bell ringer receives will go back to the community, funding efforts to shelter homeless families, provide nutritious meals to the famished, and establish after-school programs are among the many ways this organization helps local communities.

Another opportunity is the QC Botanical Center Winter Nights Lights which occurs on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 4:30pm – 8:30pm during the holiday break and ends Jan. 6. This opportunity allows volunteers to help set up holiday decorations in the Botanical Center.

Hunger is a serious issue in the Quad Cities, and volunteering through Cafe on Vine can be a way to help give back to the community in a more impactful manner. Cafe on Vine is open every day of the year and serves one meal per day to people, and help is always needed.

Putting a couple of days into this volunteering opportunities may help one realize that giving back is a gift in itself.

Senior Varun Vedula volunteers during his winter break to help underprivileged kids to explore robotics. “I feel nice that I can help kids who don’t have the same resources that I do doing something that is exciting,” Vedula commented. “Even though I can’t provide them monetary benefits, I can provide them something better- education- through volunteering.”

Preparing in advance can help a lot too as some of these volunteering opportunities require an application or some waiting time before the actual volunteering can take place.

Emily Jepsen, the service learning coordinator at PV, said the QC Botanical Center and Cafe on Vine are two places which don’t require an application. For people who want to head straight into volunteering, those places facilitate a quick way to get that to happen.

“It is always special when students volunteer their time during break helping at Cafe on Vine and helping the less fortunate,” Jepsen said. Pleasant Valley students have been receiving gifts throughout their lives, so now should be the time to give.