Volunteer

Join SPOKES

SPOKES is School on Wheels’ Community Outreach Group for young professionals. Through social networking and educational events, SPOKES works to engage the Indianapolis community in a dialogue regarding the challenges faced by homeless youth as they strive for educational success. SPOKES also helps fill some of School on Wheels’ unmet needs by hosting supply drives, recruiting tutors, serving as advocates in the community, and participating in fundraising efforts and events. SPOKES provides opportunities to build relationships with like-minded professionals, who care about the city of Indianapolis and the youth who live here. Apply to join SPOKES today!

Office Volunteer

Don’t have time to volunteer each week as a tutor? Sign up to volunteer in the office for projects as needed. We often need help during office hours, Monday – Thursday, stuffing backpacks, organizing supplies, help with mailings, and preparing tutoring resources or other special projects. If you would like to volunteer in our office as an individual or with a group, please fill out our volunteer form. Due to a large number of requests, group opportunities are limited. At this time we are unable to accommodate groups larger than 10, per day. If you have any questions, please contact Arielle Hirt, Volunteer Coordinator, at arielle@indysow.org.

Corporate Enrichment

School on Wheels works with different organizations to provide unique educational enrichment opportunities to the children we serve. This includes Science Ambassadors from Corteva Agriscience who provided hands-on science lessons to our kids and employees from Salesforce who taught basic coding. Have questions about how your employees can donate their skills? Please contact us.

School-Based Tutoring

Our school-based tutors provide focused support to school-aged children experiencing homelessness in Indianapolis through our school-based program. These volunteer tutors serve students in Indianapolis Public Schools, Washington Township, and a number of charter schools. Tutors support the curriculum-based STAR (Striving Toward Academic Readiness) program at select locations, group tutoring, or as needed to support push in and pull out services for individual students as needed. These opportunities are Monday through Thursday each week. Due to COVID-19 our Fall 2020 volunteer opportunities are limited at this time. We are still accepting applications, but please understand there may be a delay to training and participation due to the effort of School on Wheels and our partners to keep our kids and volunteers safe.

Organize a Drive

Do you like motivating and challenging others? You can organize a drive to collect uniforms, school supplies, gift cards for supplies, or even monetary gifts that directly support the programs we provide. Check out our wish list to see our current needs. Please contact the office before you being to discuss the details of your event and to get the marketing materials that will help make your drive a success! 317.202.9100 or kids@indysow.org.

Shelter-Based Tutoring

Our after-school tutors provide focused homework assistance to school-aged children experiencing homelessness in Indianapolis. These volunteer tutors serve shelter locations in Indianapolis during one hour evening shifts Monday–Thursday. Due to COVID-19 our Fall 2020 volunteer opportunities are limited at this time. We are still accepting applications, but please understand there may be a delay to training and participation due to the effort of School on Wheels and our partners to keep our kids and volunteers safe.