The Barrington Area Volunteer Connection’s (BAVC) is starting its fifth year as the spot to find ways to get involved! Since our inception, many residents have found ways to give back to by utilizing their skills such as on the Build Team, sharing their time to help others at Barrington Area Council on Aging, or helping preserve the beauty in our area through Citizens for Conservation.
Volunteers provide a necessary and important role within a nonprofit. BAVC’s goal is simple & straightforward – to bring together residents and nonprofits on our free platform and create a difference in our community. Below are some of the current needs on our platform and you can visit www.thebavc.org to find many more ways to get involved in 2025!
SOUL Harbor Ranch Animal Therapy – Multiple Opportunities Available!
Located in Barrington, SOUL Harbor is one of the most experienced and comprehensive animal-assisted therapy program. Their all-volunteer program includes a total of 53 volunteers, 35 of whom are registered Pet Partners’ teams (the national gold-standard for therapy animals), for a total of 87 registered therapy teams! SOUL Harbor has registered therapy dogs, miniature therapy horses and mini donkeys!
The “SOUL team” volunteers partner with many Barrington-area and nearby community nonprofits for visits with our therapy animals, including Barrington Youth & Family Services, BStrong Together, BACOA, WINGS, and more. They also also partner with Barrington-area businesses and shopping centers for visits at The Garlands, Alden Estates of Barrington, Lake Barrington Woods, Lake Barrington Shores.
SOUL Harbor has opportunities for animal therapy handles, ranch hands and are in need of a graphic artist as well!
Click here to learn more.
Neurobalance Center (NBC) – Boxing Assistant Needed!
The NeuroBalance Center is looking for class assistants for their Rock Steady Boxing program! The program offers boxing-inspired fitness classes to people with Parkinson’s disease.
The Neurobalance Center was designed specifically to help anyone living with a chronic condition reach their potential and maximize quality of life. NBC’s focus is on helping people contend with conditions that affect their mobility, balance, strength, gait, coordination and speech. Participants come to NBC because a diagnosis has changed what daily life looks like and their independence is being threatened by a medical condition, such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, stroke, and other neuromuscular and autoimmune diseases.
(No prior experience necessary as volunteers will go through a one hour training program at NBC). This is a fun way to be active and volunteer at the same time!
For details, click here.
Citizens for Conservation (CFC): Habitat Corridors – Backyard Consultant
CFC’s Motto is “Saving living space for living things one yard at a time.” CFC regularly receive requests for local property visits from CFC members. As demand for this program continues to grow, the need for volunteer corps to support it also increases.
CFC is looking for passionate volunteers interested in joining their Habitat Corridors team and to support property visit requests. Property visits are scheduled by the Habitat Corridors coordinator based on availability and generally last 1-2 hours. They are available to active CFC members and homeowners in the greater Barrington area.
To volunteer to be a backyard consultant, please visit the CFC volunteer page at thebavc.org.
Barrington Area Volunteer Connection (BAVC) is the local resource for all volunteers in the Barrington Area. Our free & easy platform helps connect local nonprofits with each other and to volunteers in our area!
To learn more about how you can get involved either as a nonprofit or as a volunteer, please visit thebavc.org.
More About the Barrington Area Volunteer Connection (BAVC)
Barrington Area Volunteer Connection (BAVC)‘s goal is to bring all 100+ Barrington area nonprofits, churches and service organizations in a free & easy to use database so that volunteers can easily find opportunities. The foundation of BAVC is a volunteer match platform called Get Connected which serves as a clearinghouse to bring together organizations, volunteers, and collaborators to match volunteer interests with nonprofits needing assistance. GetConnected also offers organizations optional features such as easy record keeping of volunteer hours, as well as mobile check in and shift reminders and other ways to communicate with volunteers. Learn more at TheBAVC.org. Please also visit BAVC’s Facebook & Instagram pages! * BAVC Photos by Bob Lee