Volunteer Opportunities
American Society of Panama
Founded over 80 years ago, the American Society of Panama is a non-profit organization that aims to support local charities, as well as provide scholarships for aspiring students. The society was set up with the aim of encouraging friendship and community among US citizens and Panamanians.
Today there are over 200 members, and you can be one of them! American Society of Panama members are diverse both in culture and age. Members from different nations now make up this organization, including those from Asia, Europe, and Canada. A primary requirement is that members must be residents of Panama. For more information, visit their website.
CASA
(Coronado Area Social Association) – organized by Louise Belisle, the association has worked to offer families in need a Christmas food basket over the holiday season. In partnership with San Carlos local, Sra. Maribel, CASA aims to offer the special day each year for disabled children and their families. Now servicing over on hundred families, they receive a food basket and hot meal on King’s Day. Contact CASA at [email protected] for more information.
JLM House of Hope
Located in Penonome (45 minutes from the Coronado entrance), The House of Hope is another non-profit organization and is Panama’s only empowerment house for at-risk girls looking to create a better future. Through education, counseling, and positive role modeling, young girls are empowered to recognize their full potential.
The girls accepted into The House of Hope come from disadvantaged homes….whether from abusive situations, extreme poverty, or far distances where higher education is not available. The girls must follow the guidelines set up by Marie Claire (MC) Beauvil that include attending university classes, no pregnancies, and learning life skills to maintain a harmonious household. The House of Hope teaches personal responsibility and builds self-esteem that each girl will carry with them for a lifetime.
A few ways to contribute to The House of Hope is as a volunteer helping to tutor, organizing a fundraiser, making a repair, assisting on a project, or just getting the word out along with monetary donations, food, personal hygiene items and clothing.
Visit JLMPanama.org for more information.
Libre de Basura
Creates awareness and promotes environmental understanding about the importance of disposing garbage properly. Strives to inspire everyone to care about cleaning up litter and to stop littering, to provide the community with information about proper garbage disposal, and to support and improve the development of ecologically sound waste disposal systems. For more information visit LibreDeBasura.org.
Spay the Strays
Its mission is to spay and neuter as many animals as possible in the catchment area. It supports the local communities and their animals by providing this service at an extremely low cost. Contact John July at spaythestraypanama.org for more information or to sign up and volunteer at a clinic (held once a month).
The Panama Hospice and Respite Foundation (PHRF)
This is a non-tax oriented, private interest foundation which provides service free of charge. Its mission is to assist, using trained volunteers, hospice clients and their caregivers as well as those needing short-term help in crisis situations. The volunteers work in cooperation with the client’s primary caregiver. While PHRF hopes to extend its services to all members of the community, in this inception phase it only provides service in English.
Additional services proved by PHRF are Buddy Connection System, a Home Care Equipment Loan Program, a Blood Bank Registry and Seminars on Planning for Healthy Aging. For more information visit the website: PanamaHospiceAndRespite.org or contact PHRF at: [email protected].
The Rotary Club of Playa Coronado
Chartered by Rotary International on June 17, 2014, Rotary is a volunteer service organization with over 1.2 million members worldwide. There are 13 Rotary clubs in Panama. For more information, see Rotary.org, EndPolio.org or contact President Mark Kendziorek at [email protected].