by Taryn Anderson

Created on: March 17, 2010   Last Updated: March 18, 2010

Santa Rosa is a fun city in California with lots of volunteer opportunities. There are many ways to help out the community and many different fields. Unique volunteer opportunities exist in Santa Rosa, such as caring for exotic animals to

If you like volunteering to benefit animals, there are many opportunities here in Santa Rosa. To help stray animals, you can help out at the Humane Society & SPCA. Jobs there include socializing and exercising dogs and cats, handling small animals such as bunnies and guinea pigs, grooming, office assisting, teaching about the shelter, and more. To be a volunteer you must fill out an application. You can also find more information at their website:

www.sonomahumane.org/volunteer.php . Also, you can volunteer at Safari West. It is a wildlife preserve in Santa Rosa with many exotic animals such as giraffes, cheetahs, lemurs, and other African animals. Jobs include working in the bird kitchen, animal observation, working in the office, and other jobs. There is more information about becoming a volunteer on their website: www.safariwest.com/volunteer .

If your favorite part of volunteering is helping people, there are also fun volunteering positions available. An great place to help is the Redwood Empire Food Bank. They collect and distribute cans to people in need; over 70,000 people a month! The food bank always need people to package food and cans in their warehouse, help with food drives and fundraisers, or just answer phones in the office. For more information visit their website: http://www.refb.org/volunteer.htm . Another place to help the community is Santa Rosa is Big Brothers Big Sisters of the North Bay. At Big Brothers Big Sisters, you enrich a child's life by just spending time with them an having fun! They are flexible and fit many schedules. To sign up and find more information, visit their website: http://www.bbbsnorthbay.org/?q=volunteer .

You can also volunteer at the historic Charles M. Schulz Museum. The museum preserves and displays Charles M. Shulz's art and comics, including his original Peanuts comic strips and drawings.  You have to make a time commitment, but it is only 7 to 8 hours a month. Jobs that volunteers do include greeting visitors, leading tours, teaching cartoon classes, mount new exhibits, and more. You can get an application at their website, http://www.schulzmuseum.org/ , and you can mail your questions to Volunteers@SchulzMuseum.org .

Another great opportunity is volunteering at the Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa. Volunteering at a hospital is very rewarding, and easily done. You can be an auxiliary volunteer and raise funds for purchasing new equipment for the hospital. Students can job shadow and be technical volunteers in such areas as Nursing and Radiology. For being an auxiliary volunteer, you can call (707) 576-4006 and for student/junior volunteers call (707) 576-4412 to get more information.

Volunteering is rewarding and it always feels great to give back to your community. In the city of Santa Rosa, there are infinite possibilities for 'giving back' and making your community a better place.

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