We are here to help you complete your court ordered or required community service hours! If you’re looking for one place to complete many hours in a short timeframe, and you’ll need a letter of verification to show someone - you’re in the right place.

Please read this entire page carefully, before serving any hours.

• Sign Up: Make sure that you’ve already created an account with Hands On Atlanta. If you haven’t done that yet, there’s no need to worry. Making an account is quick an easy. Go to the sign up page here and fill out the form. Remember to accept the terms and conditions before you click submit, and you will be ready to go!

• Find a project: The easiest way to start finding service projects is to search our Volunteer Portal. There you can search by date, impact area, location and more! If you follow the link above, we’ve already selected the filter for court ordered volunteers to ensure that all the opportunities you see are right for you. If you do not use the link above, you will need to get written confirmation from the host partner that the project will qualify for court-ordered volunteer hours. Do not register for any projects requiring a background check - if you fail the check, you will be removed from our system entirely. There are no projects requiring background checks on our filtered link above.

  From virtual opportunities to food pantry assistance, Hands On Atlanta posts well over 100 volunteer opportunities in a typical week to help you find something that interests you. Sign up for as many projects as you will attend, and you’re ready to begin serving!

  Be sure to schedule and complete your service at least 2 weeks before your letter is due. This will ensure that there is time for hours to be verified in the system, and your letter to be available. Be aware that your hours will not be reflected in your account immediately when the project ends - there is a delay, as our partners are verifying hours.

• Serve: You’re now ready to get out and serve the ATL community! Whether you’re dialing in from Zoom or driving up to an in-person event, there are a few things to keep in mind.

  • First, remember to double check that you’re arriving for your project at the right date and time that you registered for. Many opportunities have multiple time slots, and we want to make sure you’re here for the right one! You’ll get a confirmation email with all these details, and you can find them in your Upcoming Opportunities section, too.

  • Be sure that you sign in and sign out for the project, because without signing in, we can not verify your hours. Having your hours verified is required for your letter to be updated, but we’ll talk more about this in step four.

  • The last thing to do when serving is to have fun! Take advantage of the opportunity to do something good, meet other people and gain a better understanding of challenges facing our community.

• Download Your Own Letter: After completing all your hours, your letter will be available for download in your account - it’ll be listed as your Certificate. Simply log in to your account on the volunteer portal, then select My Opportunities. From there, select Certificate and History on the left side, and click Download Certificate. The file will save to your device as a PDF, and you can print or share it with anyone you need to. Find more detailed instructions here.

IMPORTANT!

• We no longer write custom letters of verification, or provide signatures on external letters of service hours. There are no ‘ink signatures’ on a physical piece of paper. We have confirmed with our court & school partners that they do accept our Certificates in place of custom or external letters. If desired, we are more than happy to explain our current policies and procedures to your supervisor, and as answer any questions they may have as well as validate the hours on your letter. You can have them contact us directly by emailing info@handsonatlanta.org.

• Hands On Atlanta can only confirm your verified hours of service. We understand that it can be frustrating to wait for hours to be verified, especially if you need them quickly. Please know that it typically takes between 5 and 7 business days for volunteer hours to be verified. If your hours are not verified within that time frame, please reach out to the organization directly. Hands On Atlanta cannot verify your hours for projects we don’t manage.