Volunteer opportunities in English

If you speak mostly English and are looking for volunteer work, there are a surprising number of opportunities that require little knowledge of Dutch.

It takes some knowledge of Dutch to navigate the websites, which are all Dutch, to find such gems as: carpentry work, feeding animals in children’s farms, helping at a festival, working in a garden that produces food destined for a food bank, delivering meals, and doing English guided tours in museums.

Here are some places to look:

Humanitas could have opportunities to teach English. Also, every two weeks they run a training course for volunteers. https://www.humanitas.nl/

Check a museum website for openings. They might need tour guides in different languages.

Vrijwilligerswerk.nl, has openings for jobs such as taking someone from a village to a hospital appointment, and a number of one-time only jobs. https://vrijwilligerswerk.nl/

At Onlinevrijwilligerswerk.nl, one of their listings seeks volunteers to work for Oerol, (a festival). http://onlinevrijwilligerswerk.nl/category/organisaties-groningen/

Here are some local suggestions for Groningen:

Vrouwencentrum Jasmijn sometimes have opportunities to teach English. http://www.jasmijn.info

Hortus Haren often need people to help with weeding, pruning, painting, electrical and carpentry work. Currently they are looking for a volunteer to translate their website into German. Since it is not in English either, perhaps a volunteer could offer to do it. http://www.hortusharen.nl

The Noordelijk Scheepvaartmuseum is seeking tour leaders in German and English.

Vrijwilligers Groningen, has listings that include garden maintenance, feeding animals in a children’s farm, cooking, housework, etc. http://onlinevrijwilligerswerk.nl/category/organisaties-groningen/

MJD Groningen, Samen Sterk in de Buurt, http://www.mjd.nl/ has opportunities that include working with animals.

Friesland has some here:

Vrijwilligers Academie Fryslan offers volunteer training. They seek a wide variety of volunteers such as chauffeurs, cooks, and people to do garden maintenance. http://www.vrijwilligersacademiefryslan.nl/

Drenthe has openings too:

Welzijnswerk, has openings for help at the food bank, meal deliveries, gardening, drivers, building maintenance, etc. http://www.welzijnswerkmd.nl

This year, National Volunteers’ Day (Nationale Vrijwilligersdag) is 7 December 2016.

Happy volunteering!