Volunteer and Internship Opportunities

Island Harvest
Long Island, NY – Island Harvest is the largest hunger relief organization on Long Island. We rely on over 40,000 hours of annual service that volunteers provide to help us in our mission to end hunger and reduce food waste. Your time and hard work make what we do possible, and you'll be helping many families in need. Come by yourself, with your family, or with a group, and help us tackle hunger on Long Island. Whether you're organizing food collections or helping in our offices, we have opportunities for you to have fun, increase team building and make a difference in your community!

Link: https://www.islandharvest.org/ways-to-give/volunteer/ 

FSC Giving Garden
Farmingdale, NY – FSC’s Giving Garden is located on campus next to the wind turbines (see map). It is run by the Office for Sustainability and regularly needs volunteers to help maintain the garden and its surrounding space. Activities include: prepping beds for planting, planting, watering the plants, pulling weeds, harvesting the plants, washing and prepping them for the food pantry, and delivering them to the food pantry.

Link: https://forms.office.com/givinggarden 

Seatuck Environmental Association
Islip, NY – Seatuck Environmental Association is dedicated to conserving Long Island wildlife and the environment. The organization pursues its mission by advocating for wildlife and advancing conservation projects, engaging community scientists in wildlife research, and offering high-quality environmental education opportunities for Long Islanders of all ages. Seatuck needs your help! You can give us a hand once a year at an annual event, participate in a wildlife survey or help us on a regular basis. You can come on your own, with a club or group, or even as part of a company volunteer day. Fill out the form below to get started. We look forward to getting you involved at Seatuck! Questions? Contact: cfoster@seatuck.org 

Link: https://seatuck.org/volunteer/ 

Alley Pond Environmental Center
Douglaston, NY – The Alley Pond Environmental Center (APEC), a nonprofit environmental education organization located, is dedicated to educating children and adults in the New York metropolitan area, protecting and preserving Alley Pond Park, open spaces and waterbodies, and advocating for sustainable environmental policies and practices. Those interested in volunteering must complete the application below and attend a scheduled one-on-one interview with the volunteer coordinator. While we are flexible with our volunteer schedule, we prefer candidates who can commit to a particular day of the week and who can commit no less than 30 hours to APEC in a year.

Link: https://www.alleypond.org/volunteer.html 

Bronx River Alliance
Bronx, NY – Connect with others to restore our water and land! The Bronx River and our community go hand-in-hand. When you volunteer, you connect with the vibrant flow of nature that was long-hidden away. You connect with others who also care about our land, water, and community. Volunteering gives back in so many ways. 

Link: https://bronxriver.org/get-involved/volunteer 

Caumsett Foundation
Lloyd Harbor, NY – Volunteers are needed to help the Caumsett Foundation with their grasslands restoration project at Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve. Learn about the grassland restoration project and the Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly while participating in invasive weed pulls and the planting of natives in the restoration area. Early spring projects will be scheduled. Water and snacks are provided. Interested volunteers should contact Sue Feustel at suefeustel@optonline.net. 

Link: https://www.caumsettfoundation.org/environmental-volunteering-opportunities 

Coastal Steward Long Island
Port Jefferson, NY — Are you a Long Islander who counts down the days until summer? Is the beach your second home, or just a fun place to visit some weekends? Whatever the case, Long Island is your home. Coastal Steward Long Island is an all-volunteer organization and we could use your help to continue our efforts in preserving our local beaches and ecology. Join us in our mission to keep our Island home to some of the most beautiful and top-rated beaches in the United States, restoring populations of vital marine life, and educating the public. Get involved with beach cleanups, oyster restoration, outdoor educational programs, marketing and social media, and event coordination! 

Link: https://www.coastalsteward.org/volunteer.html 

Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery and Aquarium
Cold Spring Harbor, NY — The Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery & Aquarium offers volunteer opportunities for adults and high school students. Volunteers are needed to help out with the care of our animals, and or to assist at the Hatchery’s special events and educational programs. No experience is necessary, training will be provided by members of the Hatchery’s staff.

Link: (Scroll to bottom) http://cshfishhatchery.org/support-us/ 

Coastal Research & Education Society of Long Island, Inc.
West Sayville, NY – The Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island, was founded in the summer of 1996 by a group of experts in marine mammal science, environmental sciences, education and conservation. CRESLI was formed for the purposes of conducting research, providing educational experiences and promoting conservation of coastal ecosystems. CRESLI volunteers are an invaluable resource and participate in all of our activities, including marine mammal research expeditions and cruises, data collection and public education programs. Volunteers receive hands-on training and experience from CRESLI's research staff while participating in challenging and rewarding activities.

Link: https://www.cresli.org/common/news/articles/article 

Friends of Flax Pond
Setauket, NY — Join Friends of Flax Pond and help collect data as part of the Diamondback Terrapin Nesting Survey (Turtles), the Flax Pond Summer Research Institute, invasive species monitoring or horseshoe crabs!  For more info, email ngrant@flaxpondfriends.org. 

Friends of the Bay
Oyster Bay, NY — Volunteer for projects to help preserve, protect and restore the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor estuary and surrounding watershed! Opportunities include cleanups, research, help with streams and outfalls testing and water quality monitoring. Volunteers can also help with data entry, filing, fundraising and staffing a table at events. 

Link: https://www.friendsofthebay.org/upcoming-volunteer-opportunity.html 

The Long Island Conservancy
Sayville, NY – Do you want to Help Long Island Go Native? The Long Island Conservancy is here to support your local efforts at stewardship. We will help bring awareness to the environmental issues that face your community. Typically, we help in the process of removing invasive plants and then planting natives. We will help a community scope out a restoration project for a park or open space, and then seek out how such a project may be funded. And for this, we will need volunteers.

Link: https://longislandconservancy.org/volunteer/ 

Garvies Point Museum and Preserve
Glen Cove, NY — Volunteers help with the preserve’s outdoor education program, invasive plant removal, maintaining the butterfly gardens, or with other work around the preserve.

Link: https://www.garviespointmuseum.com/volunteer.php 

The Lost Ladybug Project
Throughout NY — Volunteers are needed to provide scientists with detailed location information on the nine spotted and all ladybug species across North America. You will look for ladybugs and send pictures of them so scientists can document they need. This is the ultimate summer science project for kids and adults! You can learn, have fun outdoors, and help save these important species. Volunteers can also support nine-spotted ladybug reintroduction efforts by purchasing and releasing larvae and/or adults of this species.

Link: http://www.lostladybug.org/participate.php 

Long Island Native Grass Initiative
Riverhead, NY — Volunteer opportunities vary from wildland seed collection, plant identification, plant propagation, seed cleaning, database management, mailing assistance, and participating in the Native Plant Symposium and Annual Native plant Sale in June. By joining the LINGI mailing list, volunteer opportunities will be announced as they occur.

Link: https://www.nycgovparks.org/greening/greenbelt-native-plant-center/volunteers 

Back to the Bays
Riverhead, NY – CCE’s Marine Program has been giving Back to the Bays since 1985. We are committed to presenting meaningful opportunities for the public to connect with, learn about and enjoy our local marine resources, and offering communities, individuals, and businesses opportunities to get involved with and support our work!

Link: https://backtothebays.org/volunteer 

Sierra Club of Long Island
Nassau and Suffolk Counties, NY — Volunteers needed to lobby; track and influence legislation; write articles; create educational materials; create and execute cleanups; lead outdoor hikes, bike rides or kayaks; table educational materials at various public events; do educational presentations; be committee members or chair a committee; join the board; and many more things.

Link: https://www.lisierraclub.org/volunteer 

Wildlife Hospital and Education Center
Locust Valley, NY — Volunteers have the opportunity to help care for injured native wildlife in the rehabilitation hospital or help with the care of wildlife ambassadors and assisting the education department with events and education programs.

Link: https://wildlifecenterli.org/get-involved/ 

Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary & Audubon Center
Oyster Bay, NY — Volunteer opportunities range from scientific research (bird banding, dragonfly census, and plant identification) to teaching environmental programs about Long Island Sound. Stewardship of sensitive areas is also needed to further protect wildlife and their habitats.

Link: https://ny.audubon.org/TRSAC 

The Nature Conservancy
Throughout NY — The Nature Conservancy offers many volunteer opportunities throughout New York! Help remove invasive plant species, monitor the endangered piping plover, or with office work.

Link: https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/volunteer/