A.R.K. for God: Have a Heart - 14 Ways to Give Back on Valentine's Day

14 Ways to Give Back on Valentine's Day

by Hilary Lawson, VolunteerMatch Communications Intern

Whether you're anxiously awaiting Valentine's Day or adamantly boycotting it, spreading the love by volunteering this year offers some exciting possibilities.

If you're attached, use Valentine's Day as an opportunity to spend time with your significant other while having fun and seeing new sides of each other. Single? Volunteering could help you meet that special someone whose heart is as big as yours.

Here are 14 ideas to get you started:

	Like long walks on the beach? Take a romantic stroll while planting seedlings for Save the Bay in Palo Alto, CA.

	If sitting in front of the fireplace is more up your alley, Volunteer Center of Ozaukee County in Grafton, WI needs volunteers to sit by the fire with their elderly residents after dinner.

	Hoping to snag a brainy boyfriend? Be a meet and greeter at the Museum of Science in Boston, conveniently located a stone's throw from Harvard, MIT, and the man of your dreams.

	YMCA Camping Services in Prescott, AZ is looking for volunteers to teach outdoor recreational classes to visiting school groups. Who knows, while teaching archery with other caring volunteers, you might be struck with Cupid's bow and arrow as well.

	Turn your first date into a play date by volunteering to play games and read stories to kids at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, MN.

	Looking for puppy love? Becoming a kennel volunteer at Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Patterson, NY could bring you that much closer.

	Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but everyone can agree that roadside trash is an eyesore. Picking up litter with your sweetheart through Envirocorps in Gig Harbor, WA will beautify the highway while strengthening your relationship.

	Practice the language of love as volunteer in a high school French class at Sequoia High in Redwood City, CA.

	Admitted chocoholics? Help plan SARSSM's Chocolate Lover's Fling in Portland, ME and score free admission to the event in April.

	If your love has already blossomed, why not give flowers to those with less rosy surroundings? Deliver bouquets to patient's rooms at RSVP+ Southern Valley in Fargo, ND.

	While other's hearts are pumping, volunteer with the one who makes yours skip a beat at the Children's Advocacy Center of Comal County's Valentine's Day 5k run in New Braunfels, TX.

	Turn your romantic getaway into a chance to give back while volunteering with A Broader View Volunteers in Chile. You can also fit in a side trip to some of the top wineries in South America.

	Already found "the one?" Become foster parents through Valley Teen Ranch in Fresno, CA and bring even more love into your home.

	To help out where it's perhaps needed most right now, America Continental 2000 in Delray Beach, FL is packing up boxes of supplies for the disaster relief effort in Haiti.