Become A Volunteer

Help Empower Your Community With UCC

At UCC, we believe that positive change starts with a single person deciding to step up for their neighbors. For over 60 years, our volunteers have been the anchor of our mission, helping us transform the lives of thousands of individuals across Newark and Essex County.

Whether you are stocking shelves at our Champion House Food Pantry or joining us for large-scale events, your contribution ripples through the entire community. By giving just a few hours of your time, you are directly helping us provide a beacon of hope to those who need it most.
Don’t just watch change happen – drive it. Become a volunteer in our mission to move people from dependency to self-sufficiency.

Get Started Today. Fill Out Our Volunteer Form

Client Testimonials

"My experience doing volunteering work with UCC so far has been a great rewarding experience. It helped me develop social skills, by supporting others and connecting with different communities. It's fulfilling and fun! "

Sylvia, Community Volunteer

"That service day showed me how even one small act can totally change someone's day. I didn't realize how much of a difference we could make until I saw the smiles and heard the stories from the people we helped. It felt amazing to be part of something so big. It made me realize that no matter how young we are, we all have the power to make a difference!"

16-year-old Volunteer, Nakia

"Public Safety's goals of 'Community Engagement' seem like a perfect fit with UCC. Our goals are to engage, assist, uplift, protect, and connect with the community. By food drives, toy drives, enforcing the law, or just simple conversations - we all want to give back to this community not just because we live or work here, but we want everyone to have a fighting chance to succeed."

Lt. Raheem Denson at NJIT Police Dept.

We're working with AmeriCorps VISTA to help us better serve our community

Our application to the AmeriCorps VISTA National Service Program was recently accepted, and the New Jersey State office will be helping to provide UCC with five VISTA members over the coming year. We are thrilled to be participating in this exceptional national community service program. Since 1965 over 220,000 VISTA members have served with the mission to strengthen organizations that alleviate poverty.

We do a lot for our clients and neighbors, but we know there is much more we can be doing and we want the community’s involvement in how we can better serve them. To that end, the initial task for the VISTA members will be to help us in designing and implementing a Community Needs Assessment (CNA), an important tool that helps organizations to determine the needs of their constituents and to detect any gaps between current services and unmet needs.

The results of this survey will provide detailed information and guidelines for a UCC Development Plan that will readjust and expand to better meet community needs. The Community Needs Assessment will serve as the foundation for a permanent UCC system to gauge community needs on an ongoing basis, so that long after the AmeriCorps VISTA service ends, we can continue to help and empower the low income Newark population UCC was created to serve