Volunteering Projects in South Dakota

The youth centre was founded in January 1988 in response to the community’s need for more services that support struggling children and their families. It was initially operated completely by volunteer staff and quickly became a vital element of the Cheyenne River Community. The current 4,560 sq. ft. facility provides a recreation room, library, family room, commercial grade kitchen, office space, and residential quarters for long-term volunteers. As a drop-in centre there can be as many as 60 children at the centre at any one time.

Volunteers will be working full-time with the children at the centre on a variety of activities such as teaching, playing sports, arts and crafts, working in the organic garden, serving meals, helping with homework, and taking day trips outside of the centre. Volunteers will also help with the general maintenance and upkeep of the centre. Volunteers with specific skills will be encouraged to implement their own programs with the children.

After you pay your application fee, which secures your spot in the program, we will put you in touch with our partner who will contact you about your placement. The specific activities you will be working on will not be decided until your arrival, during your first week of orientation.

Due to the varied schedule of the centre, daily hours will fluctuate according to time of year. However on average, volunteers work around 9 hours per day, 5 days a week. Volunteers will have Sunday and one other day off per week.

Volunteers can travel during their days off. For extended travel volunteers may be able to arrange to take a few days off as long as the staff agree.

On arrival volunteers have one day of orientation which includes: a discussion with the staff on the expectations of volunteers, the work schedule, and code of conduct; a tour of the centre’s facilities, a tour of the town and its major attractions. After this the new volunteer will shadow another volunteer for about a week before they are asked to take on more responsibility. On-going training in various areas like health, nutrition, and first-aid are also provided.

Your application fee secures your place on the program (remember this is fully transferable to a later date or different program if you decide not to take part in the program, subject to the terms of service). Your program fee is payable to Global Volunteer Network 8 weeks prior to the 1st of the month you wish to volunteer. Please note that all charges incurred by the payment of the program fee are at the volunteer’s expense, e.g. if a bank transfer incurs a bank fee at the point of origin, that is at the expense of the volunteer. Eighty percent (80%) of your program fee is refundable until one calendar month before the 1st of the month you are due to begin your program. Refer to GVN's legal terms of service for full details.

Travel insurance is required for this program (unless you are from the US, then health insurance is sufficient). You can arrange this personally or choose to purchase it though GVN. We have arranged a comprehensive travel insurance package specially designed for volunteering. It includes excellent medical and accident coverage as well as a ’loss of deposits’ cover which covers fees paid to GVN, airlines etc (up to US$8,000). If you would like to learn more just follow this link: http://www.volunteer.org.nz/insurance/.

Each GVN program has different criteria depending on our partner's requirements. Every application is reviewed to ensure that the minimum requirements (as set out on the program page) are met. Next we look to see what skills or experience you have that relate specifically to the program. We are also interested in any previous volunteer experience you may have (either local or international), travel experience, and your particular interest in the program.

After reviewing your application, should we require any further information from you, we will email you to request this.