Volunteer Opportunities

Thank you for your interest in volunteering at BETA Center! Click here to learn more about the specific opportunities and to fill out the volunteer application. It is required for all potential volunteers to attend Breakfast at BETA which serves as your orientation to the BETA Center. Breakfast at BETA is from 8:00 am - 9:00 am.

Breakfast at BETA dates for 2008: August 12, September 9, October 14, November 18 & December 9. Please fill out the application and email Lisa Blackwelder at lblackwelder@betacenter.org with the date you plan to attend Breakfast at BETA. Bring the volunteer application when you attend the Breakfast at BETA.

*****SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT BREAKFAST AT BETA*****
We will have Breakfast at BETA from 8:00 - 9:00 am and then have a volunteer orientation from 9:00 - 10:00 am. It is required that you attend both sessions in order to volunteer at BETA. Plan to be at BETA from 8:00 - 10:00 am. RSVP to Lisa at 407-398-6213 by leaving your name, phone number, and email address.

We are always on the lookout for people who can share their time and talents to support our service to clients. BETA Center needs over 600 volunteers to:

Food Pantry Helpers - distribute food to clients. Pantry Stockers - pick up donations of food. Lobby Greeters - answer telephones, provide clients with general information and referrals to other community resources. Tutors - middle and high school pregnant and parenting students. Tutors - elementary and middle school students in West Orlando/Washington Shores area. Mentors - Women's Residential Program and the Pregnant & Parenting Teen Program. Cuddlers - a little TLC for the infants and toddlers of teen moms during school hours. Grandparent Readers - read to children 0-5 attending PLAYShops.

We also need help with fund raising events to ensure their success and that they are fun for all participants. You could:

• Assist with promotion of events to attract participants
• Hold a fundraising event benefiting BETA Center
• Help us to secure donated prizes for all events
• Participate in an event

You can make a difference / Why should I donate?

If we don't help now by supporting families and creating a community environment that promotes healthy lifestyles, resiliency and self-sufficiency, we will later be burdened with the ugly mess and the costly treatments to put our broken children back together.

BETA Center relies upon our community donations to ensure continued funding for our vital programs that educate and support parents, strengthen youth, help stabilize families in crisis and meet the critical needs of pregnant and parenting teens. By investing in our children today, you are investing in the future of our community.

How we make a difference:

• Break the cycle for 180 teen mothers and their children.
• Give 450 parents the information and skills needed to prevent any further occurrence of child abuse and neglect.
• Educate 4877 parents so their children will have what they need to succeed.
• Provide prevention services to 5,525 at-risk youth and parents.

How you can make a difference:

• $35 - will feed a family for 5 days.
• $50 - helps teen moms build a nurturing attachment to their infants through parent/child labs.
• $100 - provides 9 therapy sessions for pregnant & parenting teens.
• $200 - helps buy a crib for our child care center
• $250 - provides 10 days of shelter for homeless pregnant women.
• $500 -- helps at-risk youth attend an 8-week youth development program
• $1000 -- sends 10 parents to a parenting skills-building course so they will no longer neglect or abuse their children.

Annual Giving

"Never decide to do nothing just because you can only do a little. Do what you can."

Annual gifts are critical to the success of our programs, and the numbers of families BETA enter can serve.

Cash Gift: Regular donations give us the financial security we need to plan ahead, ensuring that our vital projects can help children now and in the future. Corporate matching gifts: Your employer may have a matching gift program whereby your company will match whatever gift you make to Beta Center. Memorials: Long after the funeral flowers have faded away, donations in memory of a loved one can live on. A donation to BETA Center in lieu of flowers can help transform young lives and help thousands of families succeed. Honorariums: What better way to honor a friend, co-worker, boss or a family member then by contributing in their name to help reverse the cycle of family dysfunction - one baby, one youth, one teen mom, one family at a time.