Big Sunday happily welcomes you to Our Really Big Community Calendar.
We try to include all kinds of volunteering and helping opportunities for all kinds of interests, talents, passions, and ages! As you’ll see, these include volunteering opportunities (one-time and long-term) as well as the chance to support a nonprofit by attending fundraising events. Plus, of course, we include all of Big Sunday’s homegrown events, too! Whoever you are, and whatever you do, there is someone out there who could use your help.
If you have questions about our calendar, or would like to add a listing, please contact calendar@bigsunday.org or submit your event/opportunity via the button below.
Climate Resolve presents the second annual Climate Day LA, a day-long event that will bring together over 1,500 Angeleno leaders, advocates, and locals to strategize, implement, and celebrate local solutions to climate change.
The Daytime Conference is free! Check out the details here.
300 Poets. 50 Schools. 1 Champion.
Join Get Lit at the largest youth classic poetry festival in the world! Judges include Neil Hilborn, Duckwrth, Demi Adejuyigbe, & more! A few happy, helpful volunteers are needed to pitch in with the 2017 Classic Slam and ensure its runs smoothly. Interested? If so, please contact Rachel Kilroy at 213-388-8639 or rachel@getlit.org for more info on how you can get involved. All ages are welcomed!
Schedule of Events:
- 9 am – 1 pm (quarterfinals)
-
1 pm – 5 pm (semifinals)
Shifts:
- 8:30 am – 12:30 pm
- 12:30 pm – 4 pm
The good folks at Hollywood HEART — a nonprofit dedicated to developing character strengths, confidence, and resiliency in at-risk youth through purposeful engagement in the arts — are in need of a few great volunteers!
Volunteers will be helping 36 amazing high school kids in varied grade levels ranging from 9th to 12th grades during the 6th period ICAP class at Los Angeles High School. The class, which covers a wearable art unit combining 3D sculpture, fashion, jewelry and more, is for enrolled LA High students interested in art. Volunteers are needed to help support the classroom teacher and the Hollywood HEART teaching artist by checking in supplies, encouraging student work and participation, and helping the teachers as necessary. It will be a fun, creative, and potentially messy class, so casual attire is encouraged.
NOTE: If volunteering on Monday, LAHS has a shortened schedule — 6th period is 2:27 – 3:07 pm. Tuesday through Friday 6th period is 2:11 pm – 3:07 pm. All volunteers must contact Hollywood HEART Director of Programs Maggie Blake at maggie@hollywoodheart.org to confirm scheduling and receive background check instructions.
Garden School Foundation hosts monthly Community Garden Days. These days are a wonderful opportunity to meet like-minded people from all over the city and spend a morning outdoors helping create and maintain garden classrooms for students at underserved schools. You don't need any experience to join in, just a love of nature and a willingness to get dirty! In the garden, participants will build, plant, weed, water, mulch, and more. GSF will also host workshops, demos, and fun-filled arts and crafts activities for the whole family.
For more info, please contact Elizabeth Hall, Volunteer Coordinator, at elizabeth@gardenschoolfoundation.org.
The Great Los Angeles River CleanUp is the nation’s largest urban river CleanUp drawing over 9,000 of volunteers to fifteen sites over three weekends in April.
This Earth Month do your part – go to http://folar.org/cleanup – and sign up for Friends of the Los Angeles River’s Great LA River CleanUp!!
The group Friends of the Los Angeles River needs your help to activate the entire LA River community for the 2017 Great LA River CleanUp. There’s 51 miles of River and even with the largest urban river clean up in America, there’s always too much trash left in the River. Your help is needed to make a greater impact and cleaner River.
Mid River / April 22 / 9:00 am – 12:00 noon
Arroyo Seco Confluence | Bowtie Parcel @ Fletcher Drive | The Frog Spot | Los Feliz Blvd
Marsh Street Nature Park | Steelhead Park | Sunnynook Footbridge
Lower River / April 29 / 9:00 am – 12:00 noon
Compton Creek @ Artesia Metro Station | Compton Creek @ Del Amo Metro Station
Golden Shore Marine Reserve | Willow Street Estuary
How to sign up
Registration for individual volunteers is available at folar.org/cleanup.
Group registration
Group registration is open to any group of ten or more volunteers and is available at folar.org/cleanup/groups.
Questions?
Contact FOLAR at 323-223-0585 or email contact@folar.org.
March for Science is coming through LA. The March celebrates crucial roles science plays in economic growth, environment preservation, and public health. Beginning at Pershing Square, join fellow Angelenos (and Bill Nye!) for a dynamic day of marching for science.
Learn more about the movement! And check out their cute pins!
Creek to Bay Cleanup
Back Country Land Trust’s list of spring events is now available! This year, their theme is "spring cleaning" for Alpine. With heavy winter rains, there has been an unusual amount of erosion on the trails, and trash washing down local creeks and streams. BCLT, in partnership with I Love A Clean San Diego, is recruiting volunteers to help clean up this winter's mess and improve local habitats for wildlife and recreation.
Join this community cleanup event this spring and help BCLT to keep Alpine looking it's best for residents and visitors alike. Please plan to arrive 15 – 20 minutes early for event check-in. Certified volunteer hours available for students / community service projects, etc.
Instructor: Crescent Farm Staff
Learn about water conservation and sustainable gardening, with hands-on experience! The Crescent Farm, located in the heart of the Arboretum just west of Baldwin Lake, is a reclaimed landscape where we explore new and ancient horticulture techniques for water conservation and food production. This is an educational training series. Please bring gloves, drinking water; wear close-toed shoes and a hat.
April 22 – Pollinators
Crescent Farm provides amazing habitat where our local fauna thrives. In the design and development phases of building Crescent Farm special consideration was given to plant selection and how these plants establish superior homes for native bees, birds and butterflies. Introducing pollinators into your yard adds interest, photo and learning opportunities for the whole family.
May 20 – Weaving / Basketry
Learn to use your bio-mass (plant waste) to create garden structures. Simple weaving techniques can use leaves as cordage, branches as trellises, tomato cages, shade shelters, and various long lasting leaves as weavers. Design and build compost structures, plant guards and soil traps in your own Crescent Garden.
June 17 – Crescent Farm Horticulture
Explore horticulture at Crescent Farm. Tour our choices for low water lawn alternatives, California native ethnobotanic plants of our local indigenous tribes, arid climate orchard trees and native wildflowers! Get ideas for your home landscape from our New California Landscape. Growing tips will also be discussed.
The Festival of Books began in 1996 with a simple goal: Bring together the people who create books and the people who love to read them. The Festival was an immediate success and has become Southern California's major literary event. The 2017 Festival will be held on Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23 at the University of Southern California and they would love to have you join as a volunteer.
Last year over 150,000 people attended the Festival, which featured more than a hundred ticketed author events, children’s storytelling, poetry readings, book signings and more than 400 exhibitor booths. The Festival’s success has been due in part to the generous participation of volunteers who welcomed attendees, assisted with registration, staffed author events, supervised book signings and much more.
Time Commitment: Volunteers sign up for one or more 3-4 hour shifts on one or both days.
Requirements:
• The majority of volunteer activities require being on your feet for most of your shift.
• Please wear comfortable shoes and khaki or beige pants or shorts.
• Volunteers must be 18 years of age or older. (You cannot bring children under the age of 18 with you during your shift. )
Benefits: Volunteers will receive free parking, shuttle service from the parking lot and lunch. Volunteer t-shirts will be provided to wear and keep after the event.
*Please sign up as soon as possible as space fills up quickly and the final deadline for pre-registering as a volunteer is April 5, 2017.
After you express interest in this opportunity, you will be sent further instructions on how to complete your volunteer registration.
For Heal the Bay, every day is Earth Day, but in honor of the 47th annual worldwide observance on April 22, Heal the Bay is celebrating for a solid week!
Heal the Bay’s Nothin’ but Sand clean-up on Saturday, April 15, runs from 10 a.m. to noon on the north side of the Santa Monica Pier. All clean-up participants will be rewarded with free admission to the Aquarium, which opens at 11 a.m. that day.
On the following Saturday, April 22, special activities throughout the day will commemorate the official day to celebrate our planet, during the Aquarium’s regular hours of 12:30 to 5 pm. Make a biodegradable planter, enjoy a special Earth Day story time at 2 pm, or visit a wildlife station on the west end of the Pier. At 1 pm and 3 pm, join Heal the Bay for “Who Pollutes?”— an interactive lesson in keeping our waterways and ocean healthy. Best of all, admission to the Aquarium on Earth Day will be FREE courtesy of The Albright!
Schedule:
- 1:00-4:00pm – Wildlife Observation Station (West End of Pier – next to Harbor Patrol)
- 1:00pm – “Who Pollutes” Presentation
- 2:00pm – Story Time and live animal presentation
- 3:00pm – “Who Pollutes” Presentation (repeat)
