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Volunteer or donate

You can make a difference when you volunteer at or donate to the Salisbury VA Health Care System.

Become a volunteer

Join our volunteer team and help make our Veterans' stay more enjoyable. Volunteers must register with the VA Center for Development and Civic Engagement (CDCE) office and pass a required background check and health screening. Depending on your assignment, you may need extra training. 

We’ll match your talents with one of our many volunteer opportunities. 

CDCE is the Voluntary Service section of the VA. We focus on making sure that each Volunteer is placed in the best position based on their skills and each Volunteer has the best opportunity to give back to the Veteran community. We work within the health care system by supporting each section and providing Volunteers to help with many of the tasks they face. We also work closely with organizations outside the system (both national and local) to ensure they can contribute to our Veterans as well

Volunteer benefits

In addition to supporting Veterans in your area, you'll enjoy the following benefits as a VA volunteer: 

  • Free canteen meals ($9 value) during shifts of 4 or more hours
  • Free canteen meals ($18 value) during shifts of 8 or more hours
  • Education opportunities, such as CPR training
  • Free annual tuberculosis test
  • Free annual flu shot

Volunteer opportunities

Whatever your interests, VA Salisbury Healthcare System has volunteer opportunities for you. Below are just some of the ways you can help.  All volunteers must complete a background check.  

Patient care 

  • Adult day health care: Help with patient escort, arts and crafts, exercise programs, and other recreational patient activities.
  • Coffee program: Prepare and serve refreshments.
  • Escort: Escort patients to medical clinics, chapel, barber shop, recreation, and programs.
  • Food and nutrition: Help patients complete or select menus. Open containers, cut food into bite-size portions, and feed patients during meal times.
  • Front desk: Greet outpatients, guests, visitors, and patients' families, answer phones, and transfer calls at the information desk.
  • Library: Help the librarian, help patients use special visual aid equipment, deliver books to patient rooms, and stock book racks.
  • Medical clinics: Visit with patients and run errands.
  • Musicians and guest speakers: Share your talents with our patients
  • Nursing: Help the nursing staff with patient care.
  • Recreation: Help with arts and crafts projects, play bedside games, help on field trips, show bedside movies, and help therapists with activities.
  • Speech and audiology (hearing): Motivate and encourage patients with their assignments.
  • Surgical waiting room: Greet families, serve coffee, meet with medical staff, and provide information to families.

Administrative 

  • Canteen: Work in retail store and cafeteria, washing dishes, wiping tables, and filling condiments.
  • Grounds crew: Help groundskeeper wash equipment, trim landscape, and sweep area.
  • Office assistance: Type, file, answer phones, keep records, enter data, and call patients to remind them about appointments.
  • Radiation therapy: Run errands and escort patients.
  • Transportation: Drive patients from their homes to VA medical centers.

Make a donation

Generous donations from people like you help us provide enhanced services to our patients. You can donate online, by mail, or in person.

Donation suggestions

Coffee Donations: We always need coffee, creamer, sugar, and sweetener. 

Art supplies: These donations are used for the Expressive Arts Program:  canvas, drawing pencils, charcoal, pastels, water color sets & paper, artists’ clay, paint brushes.

Final Salute quilts: Handmade red-white-and blue quilts made specifically for our hospice patients and given to Veterans families upon death of their loved one.  Quilts should be 50 inches by 100 inches.

Craft kits: Kits are distributed to veteran patients to help relieve stress.  Wood and leather kits, beading, models, yarn and painting kits, dream catchers, and sun catchers.

Healing gardens: Healing garden is in need of potting soil, compost and mulch.  Donations of approved plants in the memory of a veteran are very special and will be planted with care. 

Shelter belt: The VA is accepting donations of live trees for our shelter belt.  These donations may also be given in the memory of a veteran.

Recreation therapy: Baking supplies and baking mixes.

Other donations accepted:

  • Games with plastic playing pieces
  • Grocery or Walmart gift cards for $20 each
  • Postage stamps
  • Sewing kits
  • Sweatpants and sweatshirts (sizes medium and large in new or in good condition)
  • T-shirts, socks, and underwear (must be new)
  • Word search and puzzle books

Contact us

To become a volunteer or schedule a time to drop off your donation, please call or visit us at: 

CDCE Office (001-V)
W. G. (Bill) Hefner VA Medical Center
Building 6, Room 1010
1601 Brenner Avenue
Salisbury, NC 28144
704-638-9000, ext. 13409