The corporal works of mercy are not a metaphor. These are places in and around Los Angeles that will put you to work this month: a kitchen on Skid Row you can walk into on Saturday morning, shelters, a child who needs the same adult for a year, and the jails.
Feeding peopleThe Hospitality Kitchen, known to everyone as the Hippie Kitchen
Central Los Angeles Skid Row, on Sixth Street at Gladys, six blocks east of Little Tokyo. The Metro A and E lines stop ten minutes' walk away at Little Tokyo and Pico, and there is street parking at that hour.
Beans, salad and bread served in a garden on Sixth Street, three mornings a week, by the Catholic Worker community that has been doing it since 1970. No form, no interview, no badge. You show up, you are handed a job, and you eat with everyone at the end.
When Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. Arrive between 7:00 and 7:30 AM and stay until at least 12:30 PM.
Before your first day Nothing. Turn up.
After prisonHomeboy Industries
Central Los Angeles Chinatown, tucked behind Union Station on the far side of the 101. Ten minutes on foot from the Gold Line at Chinatown, and there is a lot on Bruno Street.
Father Greg Boyle's place: the largest gang rehabilitation and reentry programme in the world, run out of a building by the 101 where anyone who has been inside can walk in. The volunteering is real work with real people, and they ask you to stay.
When One to four hours between 9 AM and 3:30 PM on a weekday, at least once a month, for a year. Their fundraising events are mostly single Saturdays.
Before your first day An online intake form. They especially want GED tutors in maths, language arts and computers, licensed therapists, doctors who can remove tattoos, and lawyers for the expungement clinics.
HomelessnessSt. Vincent de Paul of Los Angeles
Central Los Angeles Lincoln Heights, off North Avenue 21 near the 5. About fifteen minutes from downtown by car, and the thrift stores and conferences are spread across the whole county from there.
Four different things under one name. A Conference of Charity is the parish end of it, two people going out to visit a family that has asked for help. There is also the shelter, the thrift stores that pay for the rest of it, and the summer camp.
Before your first day Each of the four has its own page and its own way in.
Children and teenagersCircle V Ranch Camp
Circle V Ranch Camp · Los Padres National Forest, near Santa Ynez
Ventura and Santa Barbara Up Highway 154 in the Los Padres, past the San Marcos Pass, about two hours and a half from downtown Los Angeles and twelve miles from Solvang. Nobody drops in: this is a place you go for a week or a weekend.
A camp in the mountains above the Santa Ynez Valley, started by St. Vincent de Paul in 1945, where almost every child comes on a campership from Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara or Orange county. Summer counsellor is a paid job rather than a volunteer one, because of the screening children are owed.
When Summer, for staff. The volunteer work is the camp office, the work and clean up weekends, and the bus stops on the day the children travel.
Before your first day Staff apply for the summer. Volunteers ask about the office, the work weekends or the bus stops.
Feeding peopleCatholic Charities of Los Angeles
Catholic Charities · Across Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties
All three counties Everywhere. Centres and pantries across Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, so the question is which one is nearest you rather than whether there is one.
The biggest single answer to this question, and the one with a centre near almost everybody. In their own words: deliver food to the homebound elderly, tutor children, help at our food pantries, or answer phones.
Before your first day An application, and fingerprinting for anything that puts you with children or vulnerable adults.
HomelessnessGood Shepherd Center for Homeless Women and Children
Central Los Angeles Westlake, on Belmont Avenue above Temple, between downtown and Echo Park. Walking distance from the Red Line at Westlake MacArthur Park.
Housing and a way back for 93 women and more than 50 children at a time, going since 1984. The jobs they name are the outreach team that meets women on the street, running a life skills workshop on housing, money or work, family services, and the donation room.
When The donation room is during business hours. The rest is arranged with them.
Before your first day An application, a Live Scan background check, a TB clearance from within the year, and an interview.
HomelessnessProyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission
Central Los Angeles Boyle Heights, on North Mission Road, with the church and the men's shelter a few streets away on Gless. Twelve minutes from downtown, and the Gold Line runs to Pico Aliso and Mariachi Plaza.
Started in 1986 by people of Dolores Mission parish and the Jesuits. The Guadalupe Homeless Project still sleeps men in the church itself, and the women's shelter is the only one in Los Angeles for women over 55. There is also after school work and youth organising in the neighbourhood.
Jails and juvenile hallsDetention ministry with the Office of Restorative Justice
Office of Restorative Justice · The jails and juvenile halls of the three counties
All three counties Wherever the facility is: the county jails downtown and in Castaic, the juvenile halls, and the jails in Ventura and Santa Barbara. The office that sends you is in Encino.
About 16,200 people are locked up on an average day across Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara. This is the office that walks in to see them: Mass and communion services, one to one visits, preparing people for the sacraments, and small groups on addiction and starting again. It also sits with the families of victims.
Before your first day Every facility has its own clearance, so this one starts with a conversation rather than a form.
Children and teenagersCatholic Big Brothers Big Sisters
Central Los Angeles The office is in Pico Union near downtown, but you and the young person meet wherever you both live, so this one works from anywhere in the county.
One child, one adult, for a year at least. They match young people with mentors of every belief and background, and the whole thing rests on the adult turning up for long enough to be believed.
When Four to eight hours a month, meeting at least twice a month, for a minimum of a year.
Before your first day An interview, a background check, and a training session, which they run twice a month.
Feeding peopleSt. Margaret's Center
South Bay and Long Beach Lennox, on Inglewood Avenue right under the flight path by LAX, five minutes from the 405 and the 105. This is the South Bay answer to the question, and the nearest thing on this page to Westchester, Inglewood and the beach cities.
A Catholic Charities centre that has served the families around the airport since 1987: a food pantry, sack lunches and hygiene kits for people on the street, showers and haircuts, help with a utility bill, a medical clinic, English and citizenship classes, and immigration work.
When Sack lunches go out Monday to Friday, 9 AM to noon. The pantry runs by appointment Tuesday to Friday, 1 to 4 PM.
Before your first day Catholic Charities takes the volunteers for this one, so start with their form.
Older peopleSanta Teresita, with the Carmelite Sisters
San Gabriel Valley Duarte, at the foot of the San Gabriels off the 210, between Pasadena and Azusa. The Gold Line stops at Duarte and City of Hope, fifteen minutes' walk away.
The Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles keep an assisted living community here, with a chapel and daily Mass. What they ask of volunteers is mostly company: visiting residents, running an activity or a party, driving somebody to Sunday Mass, helping in the chapel.
Before your first day An online application through their volunteer page.
Most of this work sits in and around downtown, which is where the need is, so the honest answer for the Valley is Catholic Charities and your own parish for now. If you know a place we are missing, especially in the Valley, in Ventura or in Santa Barbara, tell us and we will read their site and add it.
Every entry here was read on the organisation’s own website on the day it says, and nothing was taken from a directory. If you run one of these and we have it wrong, or you want to be on this page, tell us.