For more than 50 years, Home Start, Inc. has been working to prevent child abuse and neglect by strengthening families and communities. The nonprofit addresses conditions that increase the risk of abuse, such as poverty and unemployment, through education, therapy, and parenting support programs. Last year, Home Start served more than 15,000 San Diegans in need of services.
Volunteers like Sharon Semple help Home Start accomplish its mission. In fiscal year 2025, 534 people volunteered or interned, donating a total of 13,058 hours.
Semple herself has donated 700 hours of time (more than $19,000 of in-kind value to Home Start) since starting in January 2022. Here, she shares her motivation for giving back, her biggest challenges, and her favorite parts of the job.
What made you want to get involved with Home Start, Inc.?
I was invited to the Hallo-Wine event by a neighbor just before Covid. They had one of the young mothers come and speak about her life experiences and how she became connected with Home Start. It completely resonated with me—when I was in my early 20s, I was also a single parent trying to make it on my own and living from overdraft to overdraft. I was living in England at the time. My parents had moved to a different country, so I was by myself trying to make ends meet. The only way that I managed to survive was with help from other people.
Fast forward, I’m much better positioned now, but listening to this woman speaking, that could have been me in that situation. Her experiences were much more harrowing than mine were—she came from an abusive background and was trying to escape abusive relationships—but Home Start helped her get back on her feet and provided support. I thought that this was the mission for me because I could understand how she felt, and having somebody come and give you a hand and help you take a step in the right direction.
What do your volunteer duties entail?
I primarily volunteer in the accounting department. Every week I go in on Wednesday and I help manage the source documents that they need each month to apply for grants. They get grants from various places, but every single month they have to provide documentation to support the money that they’ve actually spent. I also help with other things, anything else that anybody needs there. I’ve done loads of photocopying; I’ve helped prepare worksheets for the kids that come in. For the galas, I’ve stuffed envelopes for invitations, put together gift baskets, and painted different props and stuff like that. I’m primarily in the accounting department doing what they need, but if there’s anything else, then I’ll help out there too.
What do you like best about volunteering at Home Start?
Being part of the mission, that’s the major reason that I’m here. I know this sounds like a cliche, but everybody is just so wonderful to work with. Everybody that I’ve encountered at Home Start has been really respectful toward me, even though I’m a volunteer and they really made me feel like a part of the team.
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced?
Listening to the stories of the challenges that the other families face is the hardest part for me. There is always a need for resources, whether it’s more housing, more staff, or more supplies, and there’s never enough money or enough hours in the day for everybody to achieve what they want to. And the same for me. I just think if I could be there more, maybe I could help in different areas.
Can you describe your favorite or most memorable experience while volunteering?
I was volunteering at the Hallo-Wine event and I was part of the breakdown crew. Everybody had gone home, and it was just us there late into the night. We had to make sure that it looked as though nobody had been there. And, at the end of it all, the volunteer coordinator called us all together and she’d been there all weekend, right from the beginning of every morning to the end of every evening, and she was just so tired.
But she got us all together to specifically say thank you so much for helping. I thought that that was just such a great touch and that kind of respect for the people that are helping out at the organization is why they generally have quite a lot of volunteers. I mean, I don’t want any medals or anything, but it’s so nice to feel like what effort you have put in has been appreciated. And I think Home Start is brilliant at that.
Any advice for someone considering volunteering?
Just go and do it. There are so many organizations and so many different opportunities out there. Think about what it is that you are actually interested in doing: helping children or seniors or immigrants or the homeless. And it’s not necessarily out on the frontline, but there are lots of other things that you can do behind the scenes. Also be very realistic about how much time you’ve got available. It could just be that you are only available twice a year for the major fundraising events, and that’s fine. Or it could be that you are only available every now and again or several times a week, but be honest with yourself and it’s helpful for the organizations to know that as well.
And the other thing is to always go in with an open mind and a smile too, because everything that a volunteer does is helpful even if we don’t immediately recognize it ourselves. You could be on the front desk at a gala checking in people in your very best outfit, or you could be in a back room by yourself for two hours laminating bits of paper, which I have done. But it’s all useful.
