Volunteer

Engage and Give Back

If you want to engage with and give back to your community, you’ll find many different ways to do this at Primavera. As a volunteer, you can choose to work in direct contact with our program participants, behind the scenes, on a meal team, in community gardens, or get involved in events and special projects.

Whatever your skills and passions are, we’ll do our best to find a place for you to contribute in a meaningful way. Through the process of volunteering, you’ll have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the issues that cause homelessness and poverty, have a significant impact on the lives of those we serve, make a real difference in our community, and potentially transform your own life in the process.

The first step to becoming a volunteer with Primavera is contacting our Volunteer Coordinator and setting up a volunteer interview. When you meet with our coordinator you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about our organization, fill out an application, and share your interests and availability.

Email our Volunteer Coordinator or call (520) 308-3110.

Types of Volunteer Projects

Direct Contact

Help guests at the Men’s Shelter fill out their intake forms on their first visit, pass out hygiene kits and mail to clients at our Homeless Intervention and Prevention Drop-In Center, or facilitate participant workshops for one of our multiple programs like workforce development, financial education, or homeownership.

Behind the Scenes

Assist our staff with data entry, answering phones, filing, copying, etc. Behind-the-scenes tasks are as valuable as direct contact tasks as it allows staff to provide uninterrupted and important services to participants

Meal Teams

A great small group opportunity! Prepare and serve breakfast, lunch or dinner at our Men’s Shelter. You also can create sack lunches for the following groups: participants at the Men’s Shelter; the hardworking men and women of our Primavera Works program; and the women of our Casa Paloma Women’s Hospitality Center and Residence.

Events and Special Projects

Help Primavera at their events such as social justice public forums, the annual Homeless Memorial, and more. Get involved with one or more of our seven community gardens.

Open Volunteer Opportunities

Casa Paloma Women's Hospitality Center and Residence

Sack lunches

Groups
Monday-Friday – For 15-20 Women

This safe space is for unaccompanied women only who are experiencing homelessness. We offer hearty sack lunches to these women and we are in need of volunteers to purchase lunch materials, make sandwiches, compile sack lunches, and drop them off at Primavera. We will take any number of lunches you are willing to donate – we try to have 15-20 lunches daily.

A sack lunch should include:
two (2) plain meat and cheese sandwiches (all condiments separated)
one (1) piece of fruit (oranges and apples hold up the best)
one (1) bag of chips, crackers, or pretzels
one (1) granola bar, cookie, or brownie, etc.

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Community Building and Engagement

Community Gardens

Various locations, mostly near the South Tucson area.

Groups
Monday – Friday

Urban gardens help fight hunger, empower low-income residents, educate children, and give youth and adults access to healthy food right in their backyard or neighborhood. We are in need of volunteers who love to work outside, enjoy the company of other volunteers, don’t mind getting a little dirty, and enjoy helping make things bloom and blossom. Volunteer duties: composting, planting, building raised garden beds, helping to install irrigation systems, etc.

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Homelessness Intervention & Prevention Drop In Center

Front desk assistance

Individuals
For 40-100 Men & Women

Our Homeless Intervention & Prevention Drop-In Center (HIP) is an outreach center that provides a mailing address, telephone use, bathrooms, and free toiletries and medications to individuals experiencing homelessness and those in need. Case management is also available to program participants in crisis. We are in need of a volunteer to help with distributing hygiene products, food boxes, mail, and organization. This volunteer position involves multi-tasking and direct one-on-one interaction with people who are homeless.

Please note: The volunteer must be able to remain calm and work well under pressure.

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Men's Shelter

Thanksgiving/Christmas Day meals

Groups
For 100 Men

Many men in our community experience obstacles to housing stability, including chronic homelessness and/or disabilities. Every year, to brighten Thanksgiving and Christmas days for our participants at our Men’s Shelter, we invite volunteers to bring delicious dishes to share. Families with children are welcome.

Upon contact and coordination with our volunteer coordinator, volunteers purchase, cook, deliver and serve a Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day meal. Volunteers will receive an email with the list of food items, and the volunteers select the items they have the resources to provide. Then, volunteers prepare the food or drop it off two days in advance. Arrival time is between 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. to set up the feast. Participants are served at 4 p.m. Volunteers can have fellowship with the participants, enjoying the meal together and then can help clean up the area.

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Men's Shelter

Breakfast meal teams | Lunch meal teams

Groups (Breakfast)
Monday-Friday at 5:30a (arriving at 5:00a) / Saturday & Sunday at 7:30a (arriving at 7:00a) – For 100 Men

Sign up to purchase, prepare and serve breakfast for the participants at our Men’s Shelter. Teams shop for the food, prepare it, and serve it. The shelter residents benefit from the companionship as much as the food. Are you not quite a morning person? You can drop off the food at the shelter the day before and still feel good about knowing you helped others. Primavera provides all the plates, cups, and utensils – you provide the food and drink.

Groups (Lunch)
Daily at 11:30 a.m. (arriving at 11 a.m.) – For 60 Men

Sign up to be a lunch meal team for the participants at our Men’s Shelter. You can do this once a year, twice a year, every other month, once a month or once a week. You (and your team) are responsible for purchasing food items, preparing and serving the homeless men at the shelter. You are welcome to stay and eat with them – or just serve and go. Primavera provides all the plates, cups, and utensils – you provide the food and drink. The shelter residents benefit from the companionship as much as the food. Please arrive at 11 a.m. for setting up, or earlier if you are cooking at the shelter.

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Primavera Works

Sack lunches

Groups
Monday-Friday – For 15-20 Workers

Make sack lunches for our Primavera Works workers. Our social enterprise employment agency provides ethical day-labor opportunities for men and women. We provide an above-minimum wage, temporary employment options and temp-to-hire opportunities for people who are homeless and unemployed or under-employed. We offer hearty sack lunches to our workers going out to work and we are in need of volunteers to purchase lunch materials, make sandwiches, compile sack lunches, and drop them off at Primavera. We will take any number of lunches you are willing to donate – we try to have 15-20 lunches daily.

A sack lunch should include:
two (2) plain meat and cheese sandwiches (all condiments separated)
one (1) piece of fruit (oranges and apples hold up the best)
one (1) bag of chips, crackers, or pretzels
one (1) granola bar, cookie, or brownie, etc.

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testimonial

“Life isn’t guaranteed, so get up and do; clean up, go to work, pay your bills, and always help people.”

Meet Beverly:
Six years ago, she served five years in prison, then lost six family members in four years, including her own daughter.

Now, with the help from Primavera Works, she works full-time for TUSD, is the guardian of her 16-year-old granddaughter, and supports two additional adult grandchildren.

She volunteers at Primavera and believes in her late mother Lula’s philosophy, “Life isn’t guaranteed, so get up and do; clean up, go to work, pay your bills, and always help people.”

Volunteer

Engage and Give Back

Types of Volunteer Projects

Open Volunteer Opportunities

Casa Paloma Women's Hospitality Center and Residence

Community Building and Engagement

Homelessness Intervention & Prevention Drop In Center

Men's Shelter

Men's Shelter

Primavera Works

testimonial

“Life isn’t guaranteed, so get up and do; clean up, go to work, pay your bills, and always help people.”

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