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Volunteering is an excellent way to broaden your horizons, help your community, meet new people and lift your spirits. Many local nonprofits desperately need help from volunteers to accomplish their everyday missions and to put on special events. But how do you find out where your time and talents can do the most good? If you’re looking for volunteering opportunities in the Erie area, there are two excellent places to start – besides this blog, of course.

First, GoErie.com hosts a list of opportunities that is updated periodically as organizations submit their needs to us. Reach it by clicking the blue button, labeled “Latest Volunteer Opportunities,” to the right of this post. Anyone wishing to submit their volunteer needs for inclusion in this database can send them to joan.benson-cacchione@timesnews.com or fiona.branton@timesnews.com.

The United Way of Erie County and the Nonprofit Partnership recently launched Get Connected, a Web-based platform that matches volunteers with one-time and ongoing needs in Erie County and beyond. The site, http://getconnected.unitedwayerie.org, allows users to search for volunteer opportunities a number of different ways. You can browse through a list of nonprofit agencies, big and small, with descriptions of the organizations’ missions and their volunteer needs, as well as links to their websites.

If you have a certain kind of expertise or interest area, you can search for opportunities by topic area. You can also search events and for opportunities available within a certain distance of your location. If you want, you can register to receive updates of volunteer opportunities fitting the criteria you specify.

So if you have time and energy to give — whether it’s a lot or a little — check out these resources for some great ideas on how to use them.

On Friday, April 26, Make-A-Wish of Greater Pennsylvania and Southern West Virginia awarded Trevin Capela, 6, of Waterford, who has cystic fibrosis, a dream trip to Disney World with his family.

You can help make wishes like Trevin’s come true by donating your airline air miles to Make-A-Wish. And if you donate them by April 30, WWE superstar John Cena will match every mile donated, up to 4.5 million, and United Airlines will match every United MileagePlus award mile donated as well, up to 3 million miles.

Seventy-five percent of the wishes granted by Make-A-Wish, like Trevin’s, require air travel to fulfill them, and the Pennsylvania Make-A-Wish chapter is working to fill more than 525 travel wishes requiring 124 million air miles. Donated air miles are critical to the program.

Frequent fliers with air miles from Delta, US Airways or United can donate their air miles to Make-A-Wish through its Wishes in Flight program. Once donated, the miles never expire.

To donate miles or for more information, call (800) 676-9474 or log on to www.wishgreaterpa.org.

Eat out on Saturday, March 9, and help Because You Care raise funds to help local stray and abandoned pets.

Head to Bob Evans, 8041 Peach St., on Saturday, March 9, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., for breakfast, lunch or dinner — or all three if you like. The restaurant will donate 15% of sales that day for which the diners present a BYC coupon when they order their meals.

Coupons can be downloaded from Because You Care’s website, www.becauseyoucare.org, and are available upon request at the restaurant. Visit BYC on Facebook for more information.

Area artists — here’s a chance to express yourself and help local pets in need at the same time.

The Erie Animal Network is a social networking project that helps connect lost and found cats and dogs with their owners and finds homes for stray and unwanted dogs and cats.

The group is collecting donations of artwork (from everyone from novice to professional) for the Art for Animals show, a fundraiser scheduled for Sunday, May 19, 1 to 5 p.m., at PACA, 1505 State St.

If you’d like to donate a piece of art, or otherwise help with the event, send a note to EAN’s Facebook site.

If you eat at Hoss’s Steak and Sea House, 3302 W. 26th St. — or purchase a Hoss’s gift card — on Saturday and present a Cash Cow card when you make your purchase, Orphan Angels Cat Sanctuary will receive a percentage of the sale. Simply by eating lunch or dinner (or both, if you like) between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m. that day, you can help support this no-kill cat shelter.

You can pick up a Cash Cow card at the shelter, 5439 West Lake Road, or you can have one e-mailed to you, which you can print out, by sending an e-mail to orphanangels@hotmail.com. The shelter is open Friday from 1 to 5 p.m.

For more information, visit Orphan Angels on Facebook or at http://orphanangels.weebly.com/.

“Cough it up for charity.” That’s the slogan of the Orphan Angel Fur Ball at the Erie Yacht Club on Nov. 10.

The night will feature food, dancing and a silent auction.

Tickets are $50 per person. Evening attire is encouraged (black tie is optional.)

E-mail at orphanangels@hotmail.com to reserve tickets. More information can be found on the Facebook event page.

Have a favorite charity that has a positive impact on Erie women? Nominate it for the 2013 W.I.L.D. (Women in Leadership Development) Philanthropy.

The winning charity will be chosen by the W.I.L.D. executive committee. The 2012 W.I.L.D. Philanthropy was the Girl Scouts of western Pennsylvania.

Money raised during the 2012 Women in Leadership Development conference in May will benefit the chosen charity.

To request a nomination form, e-mail Vic Delaney at delaney002@gannon.edu. The deadline to submit a nomination is Nov. 5.

It’s time to get your walking shoes out or at least, take them out of the closet and dust them off a bit.

Registration for the 2012 Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community begins on Feb. 1.

The 5K walk will take place at Erie’s Presque Isle State Park on June 9.

As an incentive to put an early foot forward, Highmark is entering registered participants who raise $25 by Feb. 29 in a raffle.

Every participant who raises $25 by the day of the event will be given a T-shirt. For every $50 raised for a participating organization, walkers will be entered in a raffle for prizes worth $300.

Want to get involved but fear your family will not make the 5K trek? Not to worry. A family-friendly 1-mile jaunt will also take place.

With the walk still months away, this might be an opportune time to fulfill one of those New Year’s resolutions.

Raise money for a good cause and get outdoors (or on the treadmill) and start walking daily.

Highmark recommends starting with 10 minutes of walking a day and adding five minutes to the routine each week until you get to 30 minutes a day. Make sure to get some longer walks (45 to 60 minutes) in there before the 5K so your body builds stamina. Highmark encourages walkers to stretch thoroughly and drink water while exercising.

For more information about the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community, visit its website or check out its Facebook page.

Graphic courtesy of Highmark

Play Santa for friends, family, and the community by supporting local charity, but make sure you check before you donate.

“There’s nothing better than an informed donor,” said Terry Wig of the Titusville Area United Way.

This week on www.GoCrawfordCounty.com, I wrote a column about donating to local charities in the name of a friend or family member as a great way to play Santa to both the giftee and the community.

However, what I found surprised me: “There are a lot of people who raise money for non-charitable purposes (pretending to be otherwise),” said Wig.

Donation scams pop up during the holidays and during times of natural distaster, when people are in the spirit of generous giving.

Here are a few ways to validate your donation, avoid scams, and support the charity:

1) Check online databases.

Pennsylvania tracks state charities on the Bureau of Charitable Organizations database.

GuideStar.org is a national site dedicated to tracking and publishing charity reports.

2) Call your local charities directly. 

By calling or visiting your local charity of choice directly, you ensure that you’ve made a personal connection with the organization and a real person is behind it. That’s not to say you can’t safely and securely donate online through programs like PayPal. However, by calling your local charity directly, they can direct you to the best (and most secure way) they’d like you do donate.

3) Donate as locally as possible.

“It’s easier to give closer to home. You know the people, you’re in their offices,” said Wig.

By donating to a local charity or the local office of a national one, you know those who are handling the funds.

For more on charity gifting, find the original post on GoCrawfordCounty.com, here.

Christmas lights, fireworks, and local charity support. What’s not to love?

What is it?

The 3rd Annual Christmas in the Sky, put on by Brian Rieger and his family at their Girard home, aims to raise funds, collect needed items, and spread awareness about the Erie City Mission and its cause.

Synchronized Christmas lights play to music; to hear, tune your radios to 88.3 FM while at the show. Encouraged by the success of their 2009 and 2010 shows, the Riegers have bolstered their hardware for what they promise will be an ever better show.

Prime Pyrotechnics will provide the fireworks display at a highly discounted rate, and local business sponsors offset the cost. A fun Chinese Auction also raises funds for the Erie City Mission.

The show? December 17, 7-8pm at 5962 Teller Road in Girard. See their listing on GoErie.com/Events.

What to bring? Personal care items, like shampoo, soap, toothpaste, moisturizer, etc. After speaking to the ECM, Rieger decided to encourage people to bring these items, because people can’t get personal care items from various ECM services, like their food pantry.

Bring your wallet for the Chinese Auction, with gifts and prizes donated by local business. No one is required to make a monetary or item donation to attend Christmas in the Sky; however, you are encouraged to help out in whatever way you can.

Click on this link to donate via PayPal.

Motivation? 

“The Erie City Mission is about getting people off the street,” said Brian Rieger, who became a big ECM supporter, “after talking to people I’ve known personally who were literally living under their cars who were helped.”

“For someone who hasn’t met someone who’s homeless, they don’t understand the scope of the problem (in Erie County).”

Your motivation: Helping the greater Erie community by supporting the Erie City Mission. Plus, every person who donates a personal care item will receive a free cup of hot cocoa and a cookie. Yum.

Like them on Facebook to keep up with Rieger Christmas updates.

My favorite part about their site, www.riegerchristmas.com? The countdown to Christmas clock in days, hours, minutes, and seconds.