Find Your Community Service Opportunity

The ConnectCommunity website makes it easy for individuals and teams to volunteer

On a Wednesday in February, nearly 20 members of Duke’s Department of Pediatrics’ leadership team gathered in a warehouse to build a playhouse for a nearby school through Habitat for Humanity of Durham.

While members of the group occasionally collaborate on work projects, the volunteering activity in East Durham offered a rare chance to bond.

For Dr. Ann Reed, Chair of the Department of Pediatrics and the organizer of the playhouse activity, watching her team fit together outside of work – with colleagues painting trim and sawing boards together – was a thrill.

“It was neat to see how people migrated to different activities,” Reed said. “Everybody bought their different skills. I just really wanted to learn how to use the router so I could out a bunch of holes and make windows. That was really fun.”

Find Your Service Match

Check out the ConnectCommunity platform to find area volunteer opportunities.

Volunteer Now

Volunteering together can enhance a positive workplace culture. According to a study commissioned by Ares Management Corporation, 79% of employees who participate in workplace volunteer programs report higher job satisfaction, and 75% express satisfaction with their employer’s organizational culture.

Duke staff, faculty and students who are looking for ways to serve can find volunteering opportunities from more than 160 local nonprofits on the ConnectCommunity online platform. Created by Duke Community Affairs, ConnectCommunity offers a searchable database of current volunteering needs at nonprofit organizations vetted by Duke.

Duke Department of Pediatrics team members volunteered to build a playhouse for Habitat for Humanity of Durham. Photo courtesy of Duke Department of Pediatrics.

Opportunities include construction projects for Habitat for Humanity of Durham, delivering food for Root Causes or Meals on Wheels of Durham, sorting donated clothes and housewares for The Scrap Exchange and more. There are also nonprofits looking for long-term roles such as building websites or fostering pets.

“ConnectCommunity is a great way for nonprofit partners to post their volunteering opportunities and connect with people who might be interested in helping,” said Sarah Cline, who manages the ConnectCommunity platform as the A.J. Fletcher Civic Engagement Fellow for Duke Community Affairs. “This is really about serving needs. These posts are the opportunities that our partners are asking for. This is where they need help.”

Debra Ragland, Director of the Duke University School of Medicine’s BioCoRE Program, has used the ConnectCommunity platform to find monthly volunteering opportunities for graduate and doctoral students in the program.

In April, Ragland and around a dozen students spent a Saturday pulling weeds, sewing seeds and spreading compost at the Briggs Avenue Community Garden, a sustainable agricultural outreach project providing healthy food to Durham families.

“It’s important for the Duke community to give back to the Durham community as much as possible,” Ragland said. “I love doing it.”

Check out this video highlighting some of the ways Duke employees build community through volunteering together.

Send story ideas, shout-outs and photographs through our story idea form or write working@duke.edu.

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