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This article shares some of the unique ways in which people both ask for volunteer help as well as volunteer themselves. Most are out-of-the-ordinary, some even weird-sounding. But all show the incredible range of "niches" volunteers fill, usually without fanfare or notice. We think it's time someone began to catalog the incredible diversity of volunteering. So this article is the start of a planned repository of unique or unusual volunteer work. We therefore invite readers to share their own examples of wild and wonderful volunteer opportunities around the globe.

Making Maps of Petroglyphs
The Ometepe Petroglyph Project (http://culturelink.info/petro/index.htm) is a long-term volunteer archaeological field survey of the Maderas half of the Nicaraguan island of Ometepe, the largest island on Lake Nicaragua, conducted by archaeologist Suzanne Baker. In five field seasons an area of 15 square kilometers has been intensively surveyed. Within that area (along the northern slopes of the Maderas volcano) the project has recorded and mapped 73 archaeological sites. Almost 1700 petroglyph panels on 1400 boulders have been photographed, drawn, and cataloged as part of the survey. And volunteers pay their own way to participate in this project.

Help Me – I’m in Debt
Brian is an enterprising young man who has turned his money problems into an unusual public request for assistance. He has developed a Web site, (www.helpoutbrian.com), to solicit donations or at the very least to buy something from his site so he can get out from under his burdensome student loans. His goal is to become a paramedic to “be of more value to this world.” You might think that no one would fall for such an obviously self-interested ploy, but his Web site includes a list of those who have already “answered the call” to help Brian!

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