Friendly Visitors visit elders too frail to go out by themselves. Each volunteer or team of volunteers visits the older friend at least twice a month. You may help with paying bills, go to lunch or a movie, or just chat for an hour or so - whatever you and your senior decide. As a Friendly Visitor you provide companionship, conversation, and contact with the community - perhaps the only such contact your friend might have. You also help alert our staff to any changes in the elder's physical or emotional condition, so that professional follow-up can be provided as needed. Volunteer opportunities for friendly visitors are available at our Rockville and Fairfax locations.

Shoppers do just that - buy groceries and other household items every week (in some cases every other week) for a frail elder. Some shoppers take their older friends to the store; others pick up a list and money and return with groceries and change. This is a critical service for elders who can and want to prepare their own meals, but can't shop on their own. Shoppers are needed at our Rockville and Fairfax locations.

Meals on Wheels Drivers deliver more than 32,000 Kosher meals to frail elders in our community. On weekday mornings, volunteers pick up the meals at the Hebrew Academy in Rockville and deliver to about a dozen elders each. Volunteers play a vital role in this critical program, which helps meet the nutritional needs of about 400 elders who can't cook for themselves. Ideally, drivers volunteer for a weekly route (a route takes 1-3 hours); however, if you can't drive every week, you can form or be part of a team of drivers who share the weekly responsibility among themselves. On-call substitute drivers are also welcome.

To learn more about becoming a JSSA Meals on Wheels driver please call 301-881-3700 or send an  email inquiry.  

Teaching or mentoring

Himmelfarb Mobile University instructors share their experience, interests and talents with residents of retirement communities and nursing homes. Art, architecture, literature, history, floral arrangements, current events, politics...you name the topic. Each class meets weekly for four to eight weeks at a retirement community or nursing home in Montgomery County, Northern Virginia, or D.C. 

Job Mentors help immigrants and refugees, mostly from the former Soviet Union, find jobs. Each mentor is paired with a refugee in the same or related profession, and helps the refugee identify companies to approach, fine-tune a resume, prepare cover letters, learn relevant buzz words, practice interviews, and provide guidance and support. Mentors help refugees achieve their greatest goal: economic self-sufficiency.  

Hospice and Transitions care 

Do you want to make a real difference in the life of a patient or family by volunteering your time and compassion? 

Hospice volunteers provide comfort and compassion, enhancing the quality of life of patients facing terminal illness and their families. After specialized training, volunteers offer much-needed emotional, spiritual and social support to people in their last weeks and months of life.  Hospice volunteers provide companionship, practical support and respite care for families. Volunteers are integral members of JSSA's hospice interdisciplinary care team. Hospice volunteers must be at least 18 years old and, after completing the hospice volunteer training course, commit to volunteering a minimum of 2 hours a week.  Learn more about  Hospice.

To learn more about becoming a JSSA Hospice volunteer please call 301-816-2650 or send an  email inquiry.

Transitions is an all-volunteer service providing an enhanced quality of life to patients living with life-threatening illness and their families. Transitions is a free, nationally recognized program designed to help people living with serious illness and their families cope with the challenges they face.  Specially trained Transition volunteers can ease a family's situation by providing companionship, emotional support, help with errands and shopping, and respite for caregivers.  Learn more about  Transitions.

Jewish Chaplaincy Services

Jewish Chaplaincy Service (JCS) has a dedicated team of rabbis and volunteers who provide compassionate pastoral, spiritual and religious counseling and visitation. Our goal is reaching out to unaffiliated Jewish residents in non-Jewish and nonsectarian settings such as hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and assisted living facilities.

Volunteers are involved in a variety of important ways. JCS volunteers visit nursing homes and assisted living facilities to offer a Jewish connection to residents. Volunteers may lead brief services and/or discussion groups, facilitate Passover Seders, and bring traditional holiday items and festive greetings.

Volunteers are also needed for behind-the-scenes support compiling semi-annual census of senior living facilities and helping with bulk mailings.

Commitment varies by type of activity from once weekly to occasional or seasonal involvement. Group projects and class projects can easily be accommodated.

To learn more about JCS services or to donate your time as a volunteer, please call
301-230-7294 or send an  email inquiry.

Holiday basket deliveries

Holiday Basket Teams deliver holiday packages of food and other items at Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Thanksgiving. Deliveries take place on a Sunday a week or two before the holiday begins. Volunteers pick up the baskets from JSSA’s main office in Rockville, and deliver them to families in need who are awaiting their arrival. This is a wonderful volunteer project for young families who want their children to experience volunteering.

To learn more about becoming a JSSA holiday baskets please call 301-881-3700 or send an  email inquiry.  

Career and employment support

JSSA offers a wide range of career counseling volunteer opportunities throughout  its office locations.  You can help people searching for new careers in many different ways:

• Career Resource Center attendant
  File job postings, assist clients with computer skills and provide clerical support to counselors.
• Assistant to employment specialist (research and post job openings)
• Computer coach (assist people with disabilities to develop computer skills)
• Volunteers who know American Sign Language (ASL)

To learn more about JSSA's Career Counseling volunteer opportunities please call 301-587-9666 or send an  email inquiry.  Learn more about  Career Counseling.

Office and administrative support

Office volunteers answer telephones, prepare mailings, compile information, and perform other administrative tasks essential to the daily operations of JSSA. Some office volunteers make a weekly commitment; others are on-call for special projects, such as preparing workshop information packets or creating a database. Office volunteers are needed and welcome in all JSSA offices in Rockville, Gaithersburg and Fairfax. There is no minimum time commitment, and volunteer schedules are extremely flexible.

To learn more about JSSA office volunteer opportunities please call 301-816-2639 or send an  email inquiry.  

Newcomer Resettlement Services support 

JSSA’s Newcomer Resettlement program provides intensive resettlement services to refugees who come to the Washington area from the former Soviet Union. The Newcomer Resettlement staff work closely with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and with local Jewish agencies, schools, synagogue groups, and individual volunteers to help ease the transition for émigrés into a new homeland, culture, and way of life.  You can help newly arrived refugees through the following volunteer opportunities:

• Doctors/Dentists/Health Professionals: Volunteer doctors and dentists provide free initial consultation and services to newcomers. 
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• English tutors: adults improve and study English and citizenship preparation in their own homes once a week. Training provided.
• Attorneys: volunteer attorneys provide pro bono legal help in a variety of areas and specialties on an as-needed basis. "Project Citizenship," a joint effort to help refugees in their quest to become US citizens. 
• Accountants: help newcomers with tax preparation and consultations. Yearly Income Tax Seminar. 
• Synagogues: are welcome to "adopt" newcomer families, thus ensuring them a place to go for Shabbat and religious services.

To learn more about JSSA's Newcomer Resettlement volunteer opportunities please call 301-881-3700 or send an  email inquiry.

Bombe Chest thrift donation shop sales support

Bombe Chest volunteers staff JSSA's antique resale shop on Connecticut Avenue in Woodley Park. The profits from this all-volunteer store go directly to JSSA to subsidize services for families in greatest need. Every year, the store earns more than $40,000 for the Agency. Volunteers are asked to make a weekly time commitment.

To learn more about JSSA's Bombe Shop volunteer opportunities please call
202-387-7293 or send an  email inquiry. To send a general inquiry about JSSA volunteer opportunities, please call 301-881-3700 or send an  email inquiry.   

Thank you for supporting our community!