Volunteer
Volunteer

Giving your time to others can be a life-changing experience for you and for those you help. We will assist you in channeling your energy and harnessing your skills and interests to have the greatest possible impact.

Pillar Care Continuum has been delivering critically needed services to infants, children and adults with disabilities since 1953. We strive to provide the best possible services and believe that volunteers are a critical component to delivering the most comprehensive and effective programming.

For more information about volunteer opportunities contact Corry DeMarco at [email protected] or sign up today with the Volunteer form below. All ages are welcome.

Finding the Right Volunteer Opportunity for You

Choose a Site/Program

Our Volunteer Department will match you with your ideal volunteer experience. Volunteer opportunities are available year-round:

  • Work with students at our Pillar Elementary School and Pillar High School, both located in Livingston, which offer opportunities during the school day and through after school programs;
  • Our two day programs for adults in Orange and Wayne have volunteer opportunities on weekdays;
  • Group home visits with adults with disabilities in Florham Park, Harding, Maplewood, Morris Township, Orange, Plainfield, Warren, West Orange, Westwood and Basking Ridge offer evening and weekend opportunities.
  • Prefer to help behind the scenes? Our Administrative Headquarters in East Hanover looks to volunteers for assistance with office tasks during office hours.
Ongoing Volunteer Programs
You can also choose to participate in one of our highly successful ongoing programs.

Hot Wheels Ballroom Dance Program

Do you love to dance? Join our Hot Wheels ballroom dance team! Volunteers are needed to serve as dance partners to high school students with disabilities in our ballroom dance program. Volunteers are paired with a student who uses a wheelchair and attend weekly classes for ballroom dance instruction. Volunteers can expect a very exciting and fulfilling experience as you and your partner advance in skill and friendship every week. Experience is not required, but volunteers must be energetic and able to follow the beat of the music.

Different Strokes Art Program

Join in this innovative art program held weekly at Pillar Elementary School. Each week, volunteers introduce a new technique to the students and help them to create their own masterpiece. Volunteers assist throughout the process, but every choice is made by the student: the colors used, the shapes, the angles made, etc., resulting in an original and unique art piece.

Center for Literacy & Volunteerism

We opened the Center – a library for the 21st century – at our elementary school in Livingston in 2012. The Center combines the cozy comfort of a traditional library with cutting-edge technology to help students with disabilities access and process information. What makes the Center truly unique is that it is run entirely by volunteers. We depend on volunteers to staff the room during all classroom visits and to coordinate activities with teachers and therapists.

Afterschool Program

We rely on middle school and high school age volunteers to provide peer interaction in Pillar Schools’ afterschool program. The help of volunteers enables students to fully participate in recreational activities and builds new friendships.

Group Home Resident Cooking Partners

Volunteer with a friend to empower group home residents to cook their own meal. Each volunteer shadows a group home resident while they work together to prepare simple recipes using a meal kit.

Opportunities to Volunteer as a Team

Pillar Care Continuum hosts community service days for 40 different schools, companies and community organizations. Pillar Care can host anywhere from 2-25 volunteers in any one site or up to 60 volunteers across multiple sites. Our Volunteer Department will plan a custom volunteer experience for your team any day of the week.

Girl Scout and Boy Scout Projects

Pillar Care Continuum is proud to work with the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts to coordinate troop community service visits. Many Scouts have also made a lasting impact on Pillar Care through their bronze, silver, and gold awards. We will work with you to develop a project that is uniquely suited to your interests and talents.

Sensory Story Time

This imaginative program brings stories alive for students with disabilities at Pillar Elementary School. Sensory stories are interactive presentations that provide a new way to engage our students. Volunteers present these stories using props designed to help people with disabilities see, hear, feel and smell the story – the softness of a bathrobe, the buzz of a bee, the scent of a pine tree. Stories are short, interactive and focused on feelings and sensations. Training is provided.

Mitzvah Projects

Hundreds of young adults have done their mitzvah projects with Pillar Care Continuum. We have wonderful opportunities to create lasting memories for our students with multiple disabilities and for the volunteers helping to impact their lives.

There are numerous ways in which a child can complete his or her mitzvah project with us:

  • Immersed in the Classroom: A volunteer can serve at Pillar Elementary School for children with multiple disabilities in Livingston. The volunteer would give one-on-one support to the students, whether in the classroom, library, physical education department, music department or the afterschool program.
  • Basketball: Volunteers play basketball with men from our group home in our high school gym weeknights 5:00pm-6:00pm.
  • Afterschool Program: Volunteers assist young students in participating in recreational activities during Pillar Elementary School’s aftercare program.
  • Wheelin’-n’-Walkin’ Challenge (WWC): The WWC is a walk to raise funds for special programming for our schools. Volunteers are paired with a student and raise funds for their student throughout the year. On the day of the walk, volunteers assist the student in the walk.
  • Group Homes: Volunteers make friendly visits to adults with developmental disabilities at our group homes throughout New Jersey for games, crafts, and conversation.
  • Tailored Projects: The Volunteer Department will also collaborate with mitzvah volunteers to develop new projects that enhance the lives of people with disabilities.
Volunteer Sign-up
For more information about volunteer opportunities, sign up today with the form below.

All ages are welcome.
For More Information Please Contact
Corry DeMarco