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The back-to-school season is an essential time for giving back to one’s community.
Returning students are leaving volunteer posts they manned during the summer. Food drives and shelter projects are rushing to maximize the remaining days of sunshine. Disadvantaged kids need help acquiring the supplies to learn.
Fortunately, in Billings there are many folks working hard to meet these needs. Great joy comes from serving your neighbors, particularly in a close-knit community such as our Magic City. This intrinsic motivation has led to the formation of many great philanthropies across Yellowstone County. As school heads back into session, many of these organizations are significantly ramping up their activities.
During this back-to-school season, are you looking to volunteer or donate around Billings, MT? Allow me to share a few of my favorite resources to launch your philanthropic fall!
#1 The Billings Family Service
It would not be the end of a Magic City summer without the Billings Family Service drive for school supplies. One of Yellowstone County’s largest philanthropic organizations, the Billings Family Service annually helps thousands of Montanans struggling with poverty. As impoverished students gear up to continue their learning and advance their lots in life, their back-to-school donations touch hundreds of lives. Their headquarters, located at 3931 1st Ave. S, runs a drive-thru donation center five days of the week. This center still needs volunteers to collect and distribute supplies to disadvantaged families across town! Even after the rush for school has subsided, the BFS will offer many impactful volunteering engagements throughout the fall.
#2 Billings Public Schools
What better way to support your community during back to school than serving in education yourself! There are dozens of volunteer opportunities in the Billings Public Schools, ranging from bus chaperones to elementary school art class. The best place to start is by filling out the volunteer application on the BPS website, then contacting the principals in your neighborhood schools. If you are looking to take an even greater commitment, you could also apply to become a substitute teacher. These paid, part-time positions are accessible through the Billings schools’ hiring website.
#3 Billings Partners in Education
In addition to our great public schools, Billings is home to a dedicated non-profit which supports our K-12 education. The Education Foundation for Billings Public Schools has been supporting parents, students, and teachers in the city since 1988. One of their cornerstone involvements is the terrific Partners in Education volunteer program. This streamlined program allows community members to support their local students by finding placement in the schools’ most needed areas. They accept volunteers and donations every month of the year, and are open to original ideas for philanthropy!
#4 Montana Food Bank Network BackPack Program
In addition to their notebooks and calculators, students need to bring a healthy body into the classroom. Unfortunately, many pupils in the Billings area lack the nutrition needed to keep their mind ready to learn. To help address the issue of youth hunger in our community, the MFBN recently inaugurated the BackPack Food Program. This program, which serves over 131 different schools across Montana, aims to provide food for disadvantaged students during weekends and holidays, when school cafeterias are not open. If you’d like to donate food to one of the 5,000+ students served by this program, reach out to a participating school or even start your own donation chapter.
#5 Tumbleweed
For many young people in Montana, the wayward dreams of youth have been crushed by the gritting reality of homelessness. Fortunately, Billings is home to the phenomenal organization Tumbleweed, which aims to serve homeless young people. Between their weekly soup kitchens to baked goods drives, this group is always looking for support from volunteers in town. As the students served by Tumbleweed deal with the pressures of a new school year, your compassion is more important than ever.
#6 Carbon County Disaster Relief Fund
Red Lodge, MT remains a cornerstone of the Billings community. As our nearest gateway to the Beartooth Mountains, this mountain town is our tether to Montana’s restorative wilderness. Sadly, this location recently led to devastation, as historic flooding from Yellowstone caused millions of dollars in damages to the Red Lodge downtown. Their local relief fund is still seeking volunteers and donations to repair their schools and roads.
#7 Billings Clinic
Among the other amenities of Montana’s largest metropolitan, Billings hosts the state’s largest independent hospital. The Billings Clinic serves thousands of patients from across Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas. With this traffic comes a substantial need for volunteer help. Whether you are manning the information desk or comforting hospice patients, there is a role for you at one of the Billings Clinic locations. As their student volunteers conclude their summer program, the hospital could especially use your help this fall.
