About Volunteering

We are committed to providing the support necessary to empower women and children survivors of domestic violence to rebuild their lives. But we cannot do it without your help. If you are passionate about helping a diverse group of survivors as they heal, please consider volunteering.

Volunteers and Multilingual Access Model (MLAM) Advocates are vital to maintaining supportive services at the shelter. They are often bicultural, bilingual women from underserved communities who undergo an intensive 8-week training course to become certified domestic violence counselors in the State of California. MLAMs complete an additional 10-hour training to become on-call, paid language advocates at AWS and other agencies through the Citywide MLAM Program (the MLAM pool is shared among seven other agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area).

MLAMs play a critical role at the shelter. They often serve as the communication bridge between staff and limited or non-English speaking residents and accompany residents to important meetings such as medical, immigration and legal appointments. Currently, the shelter provides language support in 39 languages.

Due to our consensus-based, shared leadership work model, volunteers and MLAMs can have a significant impact at AWS. They are encouraged to bring their unique interests, talents and skills to the shelter and its programs.  We pride ourselves on being run by and for the community, and our volunteers bring healing, diversity, and hope to our work empowering women and eradicating violence. AWS happily provides volunteers with community, encouragement, social and professional skills-building, and the satisfaction of knowing the lasting impact their service has on women and children.

At AWS, volunteers have opportunities to engage in both direct and indirect service work.  Examples include:

• Providing companionship and emotional support for residents
• Assisting in planning and facilitating outings for residents
• Planning activities for the children to do at the shelter and help with homework
• Providing transportation for residents to appointments
• Providing childcare
• Translating/Interpreting
• Shopping for shelter needs, such as groceries, supplies, etc.
• Supporting AWS staff during Support Group and House Meetings
• Answering business and crisis calls
• Assisting in developing and maintaining referral resources
• Assisting in fund development activities, such as campaigns and fundraisers
• Coordinating or assisting in donation pick-up and storage
• Assisting with any type of general office work
• Chairing, co-chairing or serving on an annual event committee
• Doing community outreach and education