Volunteering in Autumn & Winter ❄️ 6 Ways to Get Involved
Do you have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, and is it already dark by 4:30 p.m.? Nearly one in three people experience this winter fatigue. Volunteering can help you counteract it: It gets you out into the daylight, gives your week structure, and connects you with other people. Especially around Christmas support is needed. Here are six ideas for volunteering this autumn and winter.
Contents:
1. Volunteer to help the homeless and those suffering from the cold
A warm meal, a blanket, a good conversation: Through cold-weather assistance programs, volunteers help people who are homeless get through the cold months. From October through March, organizations such as Caritas, Bahnhofsmission, and Berliner Obdachlosenhilfe are looking for people to lend a hand.
You can do this:
- Help sort clothes and donations in a clothing store.
- Help serve food or accompany a mobile aid tour through your city.
- Take on a night shift or assist with the reception and accommodation of guests.
If you would like to find out more, you can find lots of practical tips in our blog posts:
- Go to the article: Get Involved & Donate to the 2026/27 Cold Weather Relief Effort
- Go to the article: Winter Assistance 2026/27: Hotlines & Winter Assistance Buses in Your City
There are also many opportunities for you to get involved in helping the homeless outside of cold weather aid.
2. Gift your Time to Combat Winter Loneliness
A visit, a phone call, or a letter: During the dark winter months you can bring joy to seniors in nursing homes or people living alone with small gestures. You’ll share stories, laugh together, and learn from one another. This will make the winter a little brighter for both of you.
You can do this:
- Join a visiting service and spend time with seniors on a regular basis.
- Go for walks or take short trips with older adults and bring some variety to their daily lives.
- Become a phone buddy if you’d rather volunteer from home.
- Join letter-writing campaigns like the “Pinselpost” organized by VdK Berlin-Brandenburg.
3. Volunteer at Christmas Events
What would Christmas and the festive season be without all the cozy events? Christmas markets, craft activities and small celebrations bring people together and often offer the opportunity to volunteer.
Many organizations are looking for volunteers during the Advent season to help with the set-up, sales or activities for children. By volunteering, you can be part of the festive atmosphere and do something good at the same time.
You can do this:
- Support stalls of organizations at a Christmas market, for example by serving food or collecting donations.
- Support a Christmas event for children or senior citizens, for example by crafting, singing or distributing presents.
- Organize a free Christmas dinner together with others.
4. Bring People Together to Foster a Sense of Community
Want to meet new people instead of spending your evenings on the couch? At language cafés, cooking nights, or homework help sessions, you can strike up conversations with people from your city while staying warm.
You can do this:
- Get involved in intercultural encounter projects, for example cooking evenings or language cafés.
- Become a sponsor or mentor for children, teens, or newcomers.
- Support neighborhood initiatives or recreational and educational programs.
5. Get involved online, right from the comfort of your couch
Is it too cold outside, or is your schedule too packed? With digital volunteering, you can get involved flexibly from home: For example, by tutoring online, doing translation work, or sharing your expertise in design and social media. And in order to get some natural light, treat yourself to a walk in the fresh air every now and then.
You can find everything you need to get started in our article “Digital Volunteering: What Is It and How Does It Work?”
6. Donate money or items to people in need
You don’t always have time to get involved yourself. Still, you can support organizations in specific ways: For example, with a monetary or in-kind donation. Especially during the Christmas season, there’s a growing need for warm clothing, non-perishable food, and financial resources to help people in difficult circumstances.
Whether it’s a small or large amount, a one-time or recurring donation: Your contribution helps organizations maintain their services even during the winter.
Here’s how you can donate items:
- Take warm clothes, toiletries or toys to local collection points or clothing banks in your area. The best way to find these is to search online.
- Use Gabenzäune (gift fences) in your city. You can find places nearby on Gabenzaun.de.
- Use the donations in kind tool on vostel.de and support organizations with exactly what they need.
You can find more information about in-kind donations and drop-off locations in our blog post on this topic.
This is how you can donate money:
- Search on the donation platform betterplace.org for projects or initiatives that you would like to support.
- Give a donation or sponsorship as a Christmas gift to friends or family, for example through Oxfam Unverpackt.
- Work with your coworkers to collect donations at the office or at your Christmas party, and use the funds to support an organization of your choice.
You can find more information about in-kind donations and drop-off locations in our blog post on this topic.
Tip for teams: Want to get involved together as coworkers? During a Social Day, you can support a local organization.
Volunteering for Christmas in your city
The easiest way to get started is right on your doorstep: Short distances make it easier to stick with it, even on gray days. You’ll get to know people in your neighborhood and see firsthand the impact of your efforts. Find your volunteer opportunity for autumn and winter now on vostel.de. In your city or from home, no matter where you are.
Aachen, Berlin, Bonn, Braunschweig, Bremen, Darmstadt, Dortmund, Dresden, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Erfurt, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Ingolstadt, Kassel, Cologne, Leipzig, Mannheim, Munich, Nuremberg, Potsdam, Stuttgart, Wiesbaden, Wolfsburg, location-independent
Frequently Asked Questions About Volunteering in the Autumn and Winter
I hardly have any energy in the winter. How can I start small?
Start with a one-time effort lasting just a few hours, such as sorting clothes at a clothing bank or participating in a cleanup. Bring a friend along as it’s easier to get motivated when there are two of you. If you enjoy it, you can turn it into a regular volunteer activity. And on days when you really don’t want to leave the house, you can also volunteer online, right from the comfort of your couch.
Can I volunteer on Christmas Eve or during the holidays?
Yes, but plan ahead. Many organizations put together their teams for the holidays as early as the autumn, often with volunteers who are involved year-round. Some organizations are also closed on Christmas Eve or offer only emergency services. It’s best to check directly with organizations in your city as early as October or November, for example Bahnhofsmissionen, soup kitchens, church congregations, or cold-weather assistance programs. If you can’t make it on Christmas Eve itself, the days leading up to it and the days “between Christmas and New Year’s” are good alternatives. That’s often when extra support is needed. You can find suitable Christmas projects nearby on vostel.de.
How much time should I spend on this?
This depends entirely on you and the project. Some volunteering opportunities only last a few hours, others take place regularly. During the Christmas period in particular, there are many short-term activities where you can help out flexibly, for example on an afternoon or weekend.
Can I participate with my family or with children?
Yes, we think it’s great to introduce even the very young to volunteering. In most organizations, the minimum age for volunteering is 14, but in some it is 18. In case you are unsure if the volunteering is suitable for a child, you can of course contact the organization directly and simply ask.
How can I ensure that my support is sustainable?
Sustainable involvement means making a long-term impact. You can achieve this by choosing projects that are a good fit for you and participating in them regularly. Even small, recurring acts of service or donations can make a big difference. And even if you only get involved once, your help can still be of great value to others.
The vostel.de team hopes you have a great time volunteering this autumn and winter!
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