Hands On Orlando

Amazing organization! I love the Hands On network!
When I lived in Nashville, I frequently volunteered with Hands on Nashville to sort and create bags of groceries for those in the area living with AIDS. I was also a captain for Hands on Nashville Day, where we painted and spruced up a local high school, and even helped out at the animal shelter a few times. When I moved back to O-​town I was super excited to find a local Hands On chapter.
There is truly something for everyone here. Whether you like to work with your hands and get dirty, or just sit and hang out with some at-​risk kids, or play with the puppies and kitties at the local shelter, Hands on Orlando has a huge network of opportunities, linking you with others who share your passions and organizations that run on the support of volunteers.
To sing up, they keep things super simple. Log on to
, create an account, then click on the calendar, and click on the event you wish to volunteer for. A quick sign up and print off of the waiver (or your coordinator can give you one at the time of the event), and you are good to go!
The volunteer coordinators are super fun and work well with the organizations to ensure a smooth-​flowing but fun volunteer experience. Since I’ve been back in Orlando, I have had the pleasure of volunteering with Coalition for the Homeless, Clean the World, and even the City of Casselberry through Hands on Orlando. This is a great way to get to know all the awesome local groups that take care of our community. I encourage everyone to find at least one Saturday morning a month to give back in 2015!

I’ve been looking for new volunteer opportunities and Hands On did not disappoint. There are so many different types of organizations and activities on the calendar, if you can’t find a place to participate, you’re not looking hard enough!
From animal shelters to assisted living and disaster relief, Hands On has it all covered. The volunteer leader at the event I attended was incredibly friendly and knowledgeable (thanks Elijah)! It can be difficult walking into a room full of strangers, but everyone including the volunteers and participants were very welcoming.
Not only were the opportunities easy to locate and register for online, they were great to get involved with as well. While I’m sure there are occasional exceptions, the Senior High event I attended catered to all ages. It was great to see a few kids giving back to their community and their parents encouraging them.
I’m looking forward to attending some other events in the near future with HandsOn and have already signed up for a few for the month. Hope to see you all there!

I volunteered for the ‘Disney Give a Day, Get a Day’ program, and painted a house with Hands On Orlando. I used to volunteer a lot, then got out of it as I got older, and was happy to have volunteering put in the forefront of the news with Disney. I knew the volume of people signing up for events, and was pleasantly surprised when I painted a house with Hands On Orlando.
The day consisted of painting four houses, with 100 volunteer expected. The HOO coordinator was very organized, arrived early and was very friendly. There was a HOO coordinator for each house, and one who monitored the whole project. They were very clear in their directions, and made a very humid day painting a house in not a great neighbor hood a great experience.
Being an annual passholder for Disney, I wasn’t worried about the processing time for the receipt of the Disney voucher, and yet it was in my email by Tuesday.
Its kind of sad, the coordinator said that the month before, for the same event they had only twenty volunteers, and now all their events are full. While we appreciate all the Disney is doing to help communities, I sure wish more people would volunteer without having to be bribed, and I can’t wait til we do it again!