We welcome volunteers of all ages and experience! From 5 year olds to Master Gardeners, we are excited to create an open, educational and fun volunteering experience for the entire community.
We host work days each Saturday of the month that are open to all – see our Calendar page for the weekly listing as well as special events open to the public.
Looking for an ongoing volunteer opportunity? Read below to learn about our various ongoing opportunities – from raising seedlings for our gardens (all materials provided) to teaming up to provide regular garden maintenance at one of our school or senior sites!
For questions about volunteering or to arrange a volunteering opportunity for a group, please contact volunteer@eachgreencorner.org.
Volunteer Site Teams
Our Site Teams are the heart of our program, and core to the mission of Each Green Corner. While anyone can attend a monthly work day at many of our sites, each site relies on Site Team volunteers who take turns checking in on the site on a weekly basis to perform basic garden maintenance – checking for broken irrigation, light weeding, and harvesting produce. EGC has three types of site teams: the Senior Garden/Site Volunteer Team, the Living Campus Site Lead Team, and the Harvest Volunteer Team
Senior Garden/Site Volunteer Team
Role: This program involves installing and maintaining gardens in the yards of aging-at-home seniors as a part of the Senior Garden Steward Program. Each site has a team of 2-4 volunteers who share responsibility for weekly site check-ins (typically lasting 15-30 minutes) and all come together twice a year for a seasonal workday to turn over the garden. We try to the extent possible to match volunteers with seniors in their immediate neighborhood to help build community among volunteers and the senior resident. This is a great opportunity for individuals and families who have basic gardening experience and are looking to brighten the lives of our senior community members!
Experience Required: Basic gardening experience, with ability to work independently
Minimum Monthly Time Commitment: 30-60 minutes, with 3-month commitment
Location: Senior residential garden, throughout San Mateo County
Living Campus Site Lead Volunteer Team
Role: Our Living Campus Site Lead teams are a fantastic way for members from the site community (e.g. school, community center, faith-based organization) and surrounding community to give back to their site, while helping feed our broader community and create an engaging, outdoor educational environment for your site! Site Lead volunteers share responsibility for weekly site check-ins (typically lasting 30-60 minutes) and come together monthly to lead the site’s monthly public work day (one weekend day per month, generally 9am-Noon). Our Site Leads do not need to have prior volunteering experience, as all Site Leads receive on-site training, site-specific resources (e.g. plant care guides, pruning guides, monthly and annual maintenance calendars, etc), EGC-created task cards for all work days, all materials and equipment, and assistance from EGC and our Master Gardener partners for trouble-shooting and advice.
Experience Required: None
Minimum Monthly Time Commitment: 5 hours, with one year commitment
Location: School and community sites, generally San Carlos/Redwood City area with one San Bruno location.
Harvest Volunteer Team
Role: Help divert abundant home harvest to our local non-profit food distribution partners! EGC hosts ad hoc and seasonal Backyard Harvest Days, where harvest teams fan out across a target area to harvest home-grown produce from pre-arranged sites and then deliver the produce to a non-profit partner. Create a volunteer Portal Account and sign up for the Harvest team, and/or email volunteer@eachgreencorner.org if interested.
Experience Required: None
Minimum Monthly Time Commitment: Varies, typically 1-5 hours per month available. No minimum commitment.
Location: Generally southern Bay-side San Mateo County (San Mateo through Menlo Park)
Garden Stewards
Whether you already have a productive garden or fruit trees, or simply an empty corner you’re willing to share, EGC welcomes you to the Garden Steward family!
In exchange for EGC’s assistance with installation and maintenance, Garden Stewards pledge to donate to EGC all excess harvest beyond which the Garden Steward residents can consume themselves. EGC will coordinate harvesting the excess and transporting it to our local food distribution partners for distribution to community members in need.
Professional Services
Using your skills to promote public health, environmentally-friendly sustainable agriculture and improved food security for our communities – where do you sign up? Here, of course! EGC depends on the generosity of many professional service providers. From the landscape designers who make our urban farms both functional and beautiful, to the landscape and general contractors who make them a reality, to the marketers, grant writers, CPAs and attorneys who keep us humming, EGC is grateful for any donation of professional services and related materials.
EGC is a charity that is recognized as tax-exempt by the IRS under section 501(c)(3), and gift acknowledgments of your in-kind services donation will be provided. Please email volunteer@eachgreencorner.org.
For questions about donating professional services and/or materials, please contact donate@eachgreencorner.org.
Seedling Starter Program
Whether you’ve grown them for years or are totally new to gardening, starting seeds is a wonderful way to volunteer without having to leave your home. Through this program, EGC is able to provide a larger variety of produce to the community.
Volunteer Writers
Are you an expert on composting? Or maybe you have a passion for gardening and want to share your tips and resources? We want to feature your work! Whether you have a background in writing or not, we want to feature your writing. We are looking for volunteer writers to submit articles to be featured on our blog. If you have a great idea for an article and are interested in submitting a proposal, please send your resume to volunteer@eachgreencorner.org.