AFS San Diego

AFS operations in San Diego are directed by an area team which consists of a board of volunteers who coordinate diverse activities. Additional volunteers participate in these activities to the extent of their availability which may be a couple of hours a month or somewhat more.

Volunteer opportunities in San Diego County comprise the following areas:

• Hosting a Foreign Exchange Student Students come from all over the world and spend either the entire school year or a semester in the United States. Hosts can be families or even single parents. There is no direct monetary compensation; however, the Internal Revenue Service allows a nominal tax deduction for each hosted student.
• Short-term Hosting This type of hosting normally ranges from two to seven days and is intended to be a stop-gap measure when full year or semester hosting parents leave town either on a family emergency or on a pre-planned holiday that does not involve children. This is sometimes referred to as Aunt/Uncle Hosting.
• Candidate Interviewing The candidate to be interviewed may be either a local student desiring to be sent abroad or a local family desiring to host a foreign student. Interviewers are fully trained to do the job and work from an interviewing guide.
• Student/Family Liaison The liaison volunteer is the interface between the foreign student and the host family and insures that the channels of communication remain open. The liaison reports on host, student, and school interactions on a monthly basis. When issues arise that require special attention, the liaison will bring these issues to the attention of support volunteers.
• Identifying Host Families Volunteers in this area contact community based organizations, churches, parent teacher associations, and other groups to generate interest in hosting a foreign student. The contact may result in a formal presentation involving other volunteers.
• Publicity/Newsletter Work in this area consists of preparing and submitting student exchange-related articles to the local media for publication or generating online newsletters for an existing list of recipients with input from other volunteers.
• Chapter Building The San Diego Area Team can be supplemented by local chapters which duplicate the activities of the area team in a specific geographic entity. The entity can be as small a high school district or as large as a combination of adjacent county communities. Volunteers in this area may head a chapter or perform one of the several coordinator functions.
• Computer Assistance Computer volunteers maintain and update lists of schools, students, hosts, and returning students, and may also assist in the creation and maintenance of special data bases or websites.
• School Liaison Volunteers in this area establish and maintain contact with the appropriate personnel in a given school or school district in San Diego County.

In addition to these volunteer areas, volunteers may participate in the following activities on an as needed or intermittent basis.

• Participate in talent shows, international nights, picnics, orientation events, and the like.
• Eat and drink to their hearts’ content at phone banks.
• Make new friends while assisting with mailings.
• Expound on the glories of AFS at school events.
• Help in whatever ways needed.

Registration with AFS can be performed on-line.

If you are interested in becoming an AFS volunteer in San Diego County, please write Zach Mulert at zachmulert@hotmail.com.