Volunteer with Strong Start

A Meaningful and Enjoyable Volunteer Opportunity


Each year hundreds of volunteers confirm that serving as a Strong Start® Volunteer Coach is a very rewarding experience.

The Strong Start®: Letters, Sounds and Words program has been created to be used specifically by volunteers who do not need to have related experience. Even people who have never worked with young children before, discover they are very successful. The creators of Strong Start® believed that if a program could be structured to create a meaningful and enjoyable volunteer experience, people would demonstrate that they care about strengthening their community by ensuring that everyone learns to read. Many communities are proving that this is true.

Hundreds of people volunteer in the Strong Start® program. More are needed, however, since there are many locations trying to recruit volunteers and many do not have enough. Often schools have more children who could benefit from the program, but need more volunteers before all the children can be included.

We find that initially people decide to volunteer for many different reasons but, after they complete their initial 10-week commitment working with the program, they share the same conclusion. They see the growth in the child’s skills for themselves and know that they have made a positive difference in that child’s life directly through their efforts.

It’s Easy!

The Letters, Sounds and Words program uses games and activities to give the child lots of repetition in order to learn the names of letters, a sound for each one, how to learn words by sight and how to learn words using the sounds of its letters. The games and activities are easy to play and each Volunteer Coach is given a detailed instruction manual. Learning is fun!

There are games and activities such as:

  • playing concentration
  • matching a picture to a letter
  • playing a board game
  • putting three puzzle pieces together
  • matching objects with the sound of a letter
  • playing dominoes with words or sounds
  • using a fishing rod to catch fish with words

Ready to be a Strong Start® Volunteer?

Here’s what you do…

  1. Offer your services by contacting a site (e.g. school) that is using the program. Each site is responsible for recruiting its own volunteers. You will need to ask:
    • for an explanation of its recruitment and screening process.
    • when the site is starting its next program.
  2. Register for training through the Strong Start® Site Co-ordinator at the location where you will volunteer so that this person knows when you will have completed your training and can start to work with a child.
  3. Explain the days and times you are available to volunteer. Give this information directly to the Site Co-ordinator at the location where you will volunteer. He/she will need this in order to create a volunteer schedule before starting the program.
  4. Attend the two training sessions.
  5. ENJOY working with the children as a Volunteer Coach!
  6. If you don’t have a specific site in mind, contact the Strong Start® office and you will be directed to a site that is in need of volunteers.