Willow House

• Volunteer facilitators for Children and teen support groups
• Special Group facilitators for Survivors of Suicide
• Program Volunteers for annual Family Camp
• Program Volunteers for Camp Erin
• Program Volunteers for the annual Holiday Remembrance Gathering
• Organizational Support for Joie's Branch, our lending library
• Speakers advocating for Willow House services
• Fundraising activities
• Professional services
• Special Event support
• Office Clerical Support

 Several Willow House volunteer opportunities are detailed below...

The next 20 hour training is scheduled for October 2010 (Saturday, October 2, Wednesday evening, October 6, Saturday, October 9 and Wednesday evening, October 13). This training will be held in the Willow House offices located at 302 Saunders Road, Suite 200, Riverwoods, IL 60015. This comprehensive training provides an experiential and instructive guiding framework for understanding grief and loss, reviews educational information and research regarding children and grief and provides instruction on how to be an effective peer support group facilitator.

The fee for the Willow House facilitator training is $50 per person to cover the cost of materials. If you are interested in being considered for this comprehensive training, please complete and return the volunteer facilitator application below.

Children's Bereavement Support Group Volunteer Facilitators

The primary service provided by Willow House is the peer support group program for children, teens and their families that are grieving the death of a parent and spouse or sibling and child. Volunteer Facilitators with this program work in teams with one of the children's and teen's groups. These groups meet once a month, are organized by age and serve children and teens from 4-18 years.

All Willow House Volunteer Facilitators are required to complete our 20 hour training program. This comprehensive training provides an experiential and instructive guiding framework for understanding grief and loss, reviews educational information and research regarding children and grief and provides instruction on how to be an effective peer support group facilitator. The training program is generally offered two times a year; more information about the next training program will be provided to candidates who submit a volunteer application and indicate that they are interested in becoming a Volunteer Facilitator. Facilitators are also expected to attend additional in-services as presented.

Volunteers who want to serve in this capacity are asked to make a commitment to volunteer one evening (4 hours) per month with their assigned groups for a minimum of one year.

Please complete a  volunteer facilitator application (click here for the PDF) for this position.

Support Group Assistants

Support Group Assistants assist Willow House staff and group facilitators at the various group sites. Some of the roles for these volunteers include greeting families as they arrive at Willow House for their group sessions, helping with "Joie's Branch", the Willow House library, keeping inventory of group supplies and helping with various set-up and clean-up activities.

Please complete a  general volunteer application  ( Click here for the PDF ) for this position.

Office Volunteers

Willow House Office Volunteers help in the Willow House office with a variety of tasks such as filing, copying, data entry, special events projects and large mailings. Regularly scheduled Office Volunteers are needed for a period of 2-4 hours per week. Additional Office Volunteers are needed on an "as needed" basis, especially to work on special projects. Previous office and computer experience may be helpful but is not required.

Please complete a  general volunteer application ( Click here for the PDF ) for this position

Joie's Branch Volunteers

Joie's Branch, the Willow House lending library, is available at all group sites as well as in the Willow House offices. We have a very simple library software system that maintains the inventory of books and other resources, keeps track of the lending process and generates book lists and bibliographies. Volunteers to help with Joie's Branch in the main office need to have previous computer experience in order to work with the library software system.

Please complete a  general volunteer application  ( Click here for the PDF ) for this position

Fundraising

Willow House has a variety of fundraising needs. We are always looking for individuals that are interested in organizing local events e.g. ...bake sales, walk-a-thons, where the proceeds benefit Willow House (third-party fundraisers)

We have a group of individuals that work on our annual spring benefit which is our largest fundraiser. There are many tasks needed to make this event a success. These include soliciting businesses for items, working on the auction book, decorations, raffle, set-up and clean-up.

The benefit committee usually meets once a month from October through March. Meetings are more frequent as the spring benefit date gets closer.

Please complete a  general volunteer application ( Click here for the PDF ) for this position