We Have A Red Apron For You
Our Volunteers transform lives and over the past 37 years have helped to make Bluffton Self Help the organization it is today. Join our dedicated group of over 350 volunteers and explore some of the opportunities to give back.
Red Apron Volunteer Opportunities
Education and Training Volunteers
Help neighbors become successful in their home, workplace, and community by providing instruction in reading, writing, math, conversational English, GED preparation, workshops, or one-on-one tutoring.
To become a tutor, knowledge of languages other than English is not necessary; neither is prior teaching experience. Training is provided to all potential tutors.
Basic Needs Volunteers
Basic Needs volunteers work in The Market to help stock and organize shelves with groceries, hygiene items, and clothing. Help neighbors shop, check-in, check-out and carry groceries to their cars. There are also opportunities to support the financial assistance programs and help neighbors apply for educational scholarships. Client Intake volunteers work one-on-one with clients in-person and over the phone.
Special programs and holidays also provide opportunities to give back throughout the year.
Volunteer Spotlight
We couldn’t do it without all of our amazing volunteers!
Volunteer Spotlight | Mary Ann Holton
Volunteer Spotlight | Fernanda Silveira
Volunteer Spotlight: Cinda Bush
[divider] [image source=”https://blufftonselfhelp.org/media/uploads/cinda-250×200.jpg” alt=”” width=”250″ height=”200″ align=”right”]Cinda Bush has seen a lot of changes in her life and with Bluffton Self Help. She is one of Bluffton Self Help’s regulars and we mean “regular.” Bush has been volunteering for Bluffton Self Help for over 20 years! “I first met Mrs. Ida Martin when I needed help, years ago,” said Bush. “She was always there to help me,” Bush remembers. Mrs. Ida would call me when she received a bag of children’s clothing and say ‘you get over her and see if there is anything for your children.” That’s how she started volunteering. Cinda volunteered two days a week all those years and is currently a regular on the Friday afternoon shift. Cinda, a life-long local resident spent her early years living on the Belfair Plantation with her great-grandfather. “He raised me and two sisters,” she said. He was a farmer. Belfair, at the time Cinda lived there was owned by William Mosely Swain. Cinda remembers attending the one-room school house located on the plantation. In 1949, Cinda moved off the Belfair Plantation and attended Michael C. Riley School. Since 1985, when she wasn’t working or volunteering, she cared for her brother Jonathon who suffered from Hydrocephalus. When his mother passed, she promised to care for her brother. Cinda, with her husband’s whole-hearted approval, took him in. Jonathan died in May. Cinda, a cook by profession for thirty years, still works, earning needed income by caring for a woman three days a week who is homebound. When asked what keeps her going, she said it’s her faith. “I pray daily for the Lord to keep me strong and focused,” she said. Cinda continues to volunteer at Bluffton Self Help because of how it makes her feel. “I get a great feeling when I help someone pick out a piece of clothing they need or hand out a loaf of bread to someone who is hungry.” When Cinda has time, she relaxes in her wide open country setting, visited often by her five children and 13 great grandchildren. Cinda and her husband were married 41 years prior to his passing five years ago.