To focus our efforts and resources on securing the items our families need most, we are now offering our pick-up service exclusively for furniture donations that either:

• Include one of our 4 most requested items (mattress and/or boxspring, sofa or upholstered living room chair, dresser, or dining table and/or set of dining chairs).
  
  
• Include at least 3 other pieces of furniture, if they do not include one of the four items listed above.

Click here for more information on these new guidelines.

To schedule a pick-up, please email furnish@awidercircle.org with the following information:

• Your name and phone number
  
• The pickup address
• The list of items you wish to donate
• Whether you can bring items outside for a curbside pickup, or need our team to go inside for an in-home pickup
• REQUIRED – Pictures of all the furniture items you wish to donate

For added convenience, we recently placed a drop-off bin in the parking lot of our Center for Community Service (9159 Brookville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910) for clothing, linens, and shoes. The bin is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Additionally, two partners in our community have drop-off bins to support our work at the following locations:

• Hughes United Methodist Church: 10700 Georgia Avenue, Wheaton, MD 20902
• The Station @ Riverdale Park: 6621 Baltimore Avenue, Riverdale Park, MD 20737

Long-term volunteer opportunities are a great way for volunteers to continue utilizing existing skills, learn new skills, and meet new people.

Available Opportunities

Essential Support Volunteer (Sorting & Restocking)
This position focuses on providing basic needs items for the home to our neighbors seeking to rise out of poverty. The donations we receive to our warehouse from our donors include household furniture, linens, kitchen items, toys, and professional clothing and accessories. Volunteers help us to sort donations and stock the showrooms where our clients select their items. With the help of volunteers like you, A Wider Circle is able to furnish 10-20 homes free of charge each day for our neighbors in need. This opportunity is available for individuals who are the age of 18 and over and can commit to serving in one of the donation sections ( household furniture, linens, kitchen items, toys, and professional clothing and accessories) in our warehouse for 1 shift (3 hours or more) once a week for at least 6 months.

Personal Shopper
This position focuses on assisting job seekers as they shop for professional clothing at our Professional Development Center (PDC). Volunteers welcome clients into our shopping area, select items from our clothing showroom and storage area when needed, and pack up the selected clothing at the end of the appointment. This opportunity is available for individuals who are the age of 18 and over and can commit to a minimum of 1 shift (3 hours) every two weeks. As a volunteer in the professional clothing program, you contribute to the mission of the PDC by ensuring that each client who has an appointment is treated with dignity and has a wide selection of quality items from which to select a professional wardrobe.

Administrative Services Assistant
As a volunteer in the Administration department, you will help serve as the initial point of contact for the guest who arrive at our welcome center and for individuals who contact us by phone, helping to set a positive tone for each guest and caller experience so they know their needs are being addressed.

Key responsibilities include: Answering calls from those who have general questions about the organization, data entry into Google Forms, working within a department and answering calls specifically for that department, and greeting guest(s) at our front desk to determine their purpose for visiting.

This opportunity is available for individuals who are the age of 18 and over and can commit to a minimum of one weekday per week for two hours between 10:00am and 3:00pm (in person).

Furniture Shopping Assistant

The Furniture Shopping Assistant assists clients with their furniture selections and helps individuals and families find the items they need. They are in charge of guiding the client’s appointment from start to finish.

Key Responsibilities: Complete confidential intakes with clients receiving services, assist clients with the selection of their items including furniture, household items, and baby items, work alongside the Essential Support team and communicate with the Floor Manager when a client needs to make changes to their requests, accurately note the number of items a client receives and any important information regarding the appointment.

This opportunity is available for individuals who are the age of 18 and over and commit to one day every other week (more welcome if desired!). Shift hours are either 9:00 am – 12:00 pm or 11:00 am – 2:00 pm. This is an in person volunteer position. Help needed on Saturdays.

Volunteer Team Assistant

The Volunteer Team Assistant communicates with potential volunteers, groups, and in-kind donors by phone and by email in order to answer common questions and assist with scheduling. The Volunteer Team assistant will also work to maintain an accurate database so high levels of communication, recognition, and reporting can continue to occur.

Key Responsiblities: Schedule groups to volunteer with our Essential Support program, document volunteer and in-kind drives for donor accomplishments for recognition purposes, contact volunteers and in-kind drive donors to update profile information and input information into database, prepare and send program information to prospective volunteers, groups, and in-kind drive donors, send confirmation and thank you emails.

This opportunity is available for individuals who are the age of 18 and over and can commit to at least one day per week for at least 3 hours from 9:00am-12pm or 10am-1pm .

Care Package Delivery Drivers

Each month, we deliver nearly 200 care packages to the residents of Highland Dwellings and Additions in Southeast, DC. We need delivery drivers with their own vehicle to pick up the bags at our offices located in Silver Spring, MD (9141 Brookville Road) and drop them off at the homes of the residents, in a contactless and safe way. Deliveries are made on the last Tuesday & Thursday of the month during the morning and early afternoon. Volunteer shifts that are available for this opportunity are at least 3 hours long.

Available Opportunities

Essential Support
This program focuses on providing basic needs items for the home to our neighbors seeking to rise out of poverty. The donations we receive include household furniture, linens, kitchen items, toys, and professional clothing and accessories. Volunteers help us to sort donations and stock the showrooms where our clients select their items. With the help of volunteers like you, A Wider Circle is able to furnish 10-20 homes free of charge each day for our neighbors in need. This is an SSL hour-approved opportunity for high school students. All volunteers under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult during their orientation, training, and volunteer service. Volunteer shifts are 3 hours long.

Heavy Lifter volunteers are also a part of our Essential Support program. They help our Inventory team unload donations from vehicles that pull up to our warehouse to drop off donations, help load furniture and other items into client vehicles, and take donated items (bags of clothing, boxes of toys, etc.) to the appropriate section in our warehouse. All volunteers are supervised by a member of our Inventory team and provided appropriate instructions and assistance at all times.

All volunteers between the ages of 7-13 are welcome to give back by helping with our Essential Support program as long as they are accompanied by an adult during their orientation, training, and volunteer service.

We work to identify volunteer opportunities in our warehouse that are safe and that don’t require as many steps so our youth volunteers have an easier time staying engaged.

For more information about youth volunteer opportunities, email us at volunteer@awidercircle.org.

A great way for your group to give back is by helping with our Essential Support program. This program focuses on providing basic need items for the home to our neighbors seeking to rise out of poverty. The donations we receive include household furniture, linens, kitchen items, toys, and professional clothing and accessories. Volunteers help us to sort donations and stock the showrooms where our clients select their items. In addition, volunteers unload donations from vehicles that pull up to our warehouse to drop off donations, help load furniture and other items into client vehicles, and take donated items (bags of clothing, boxes of toys, etc.) to the appropriate section in our warehouse. 

With the help of volunteers like you, A Wider Circle is able to furnish 10-20 homes free of charge each day for our neighbors in need.

At this time, we are able to host groups of up to 25 volunteers. The days when we need the most help are weekdays. Available shift times are 10:00am to 12:00pm or 1:00pm to 3:00pm, but we are also happy to explore longer shift times.

Questions: Email us at groups@awidercircle.org.

Our virtual volunteer opportunities are open to individuals of all ages and groups.

Immediate Needs as of June 30, 2023: We are most in need of individuals and groups to host a non-persishable food drives.

Host a Non-perishable Food Drive

A Wider Circle provides nutritious food to one of our region’s food deserts, Washington Highlands in Southeast DC. We could use your help to continue this effort, by collecting nutritious non-perishable food items. Some of the most needed items are healthy soups, packaged foods (seeds, nuts, oats, granola, rice, quinoa, beans, pasta) canned fruit (in fruit juice instead of syrup if possible), canned vegetables (low in sodium if possible), plastic jar foods (nut/seed butters, jelly, cooking oil), spaghetti and spaghetti sauce, shelf-stable milk (rice, almond, regular milk, for example), healthy cereals, and oatmeal.

Create Care Packages (Market Bags)

A Wider Circle is always in need of care packages to provide to those we serve. You or your group could create care packages from your home, office, faith community, or school and then drop them off at A Wider Circle.

Here are some of our most needed care packages:

1. Essential Item Care Packages – toilet paper, body soap, toothpaste, dish soap, laundry detergent, and all-purpose cleaner.
   
   
2. Oral Care Kits – toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, and mouthwash.

To get started with either opportunity, please complete our donation drive form. 

Pre-screening interviews for individuals completing court-ordered community service take place on Monday from 4:00-5:00pm and Wednesday from 4:00-5:00pm via phone. To begin your community service with A Wider Circle, you must complete a 15-minute pre-screening interview. Following approval, your next step is to schedule an orientation (this will count towards your requirements).

Our virtual volunteer opportunities are open to individuals of all ages and groups. For more information, please email us at volunteer@awidercircle.org.

Available Opportunities

Host a Non-perishable Food Drive

A Wider Circle provides nutritious food to one of our region’s food deserts, Washington Highlands in Southeast DC. We could use your help to continue this effort, by collecting nutritious non-perishable food items. Some of the most needed items are healthy soups, packaged foods (seeds, nuts, oats, granola, rice, quinoa, beans, pasta) canned fruit (in fruit juice instead of syrup if possible), canned vegetables (low in sodium if possible), plastic jar foods (nut/seed butters, jelly, cooking oil), spaghetti and spaghetti sauce, shelf-stable milk (rice, almond, regular milk, for example), healthy cereals, and oatmeal.

Help Deliver Essentials (low-touch opportunity)
A Wider Circle is seeking volunteers to help deliver care packages, baby items, groceries, and more to the families that we serve. In most cases, volunteers would pick up these items from our headquarters in Silver Spring and deliver them to the doorstep of a client living near our Southeast DC location who will be expecting them.

Create Care Packages
A Wider Circle is always in need of care packages to provide to those we serve. You or your group could create care packages from your home, office, faith community, or school and then drop them off at A Wider Circle.

Here are some of our most needed care packages:

1. Essential Item Care Packages – toilet paper, body soap, toothpaste, dish soap, laundry detergent, and all-purpose cleaner.
   
   
2. Oral Care Kits – toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, and mouthwash.

Help with Pro Bono Services
A Wider Circle is so appreciative of our volunteers who offer their trade or professional skills to benefit this work. Whether you are a mechanic, a therapist, a lawyer, etc. ​—​ we invite you to use your expertise in support of the individuals we serve!