What types of organizations can a veteran join to help their communities?

CERT Community Emergency Response Team. Many towns and cities have them. Open to anyone, its a great way to get involved and utilize your military skills as related to leadership, organization, disaster preparedness, first aid and anything else you can think of.

https://www.fema.gov/community-emergency-response-teams

There are a bunch I'm sure, you just need to figure out what type of organization you want to volunteer with. Sure the VFW and the Legion are great if you want to work along side other Veterans but there are other non-military related organizations that you can look into. Programs like Big Brother/Big Sister, the Goodwill, United Way, soup kitchens, and so many more are looking for willing and able to hands to help as well. The first step is to figure out what you feel you are being called to do to continue giving yourself a task and purpose.

There are many. It is basically what you want to volunteer for. Check with American Legion and VFW, they may be able to help you. Also google is a great place to look.

Generally, the easiest to look for are American Legion, and the VFW. They are both very community oriented. You can also look at Disabled Veterans of America, or Wounded Warrior.

Makissa,
I did a fellowship for the Mission Continues and I lead the Pittsburgh Service Platoon. Tell them James O'Connor sent you! Good luck!

Ones I can suggest that are great organizations I have worked with are Team Rubicon http://www.teamrubiconusa.org/ and The Mission Continues https://www.missioncontinues.org/

I have tried to join the American Legion. My time of service during the Cold War does not qualify me. My life was on the line every time those wheels left the ground. But, all that qualifies me for is the auxiliary. Great, another place a woman can clean up after the men. Where are the military service organizations? Since of course MY SERVICE DOESNT COUNT!!!

There are quite a few different ways you could go about volunteering. You have groups like Kiwanis, Rotary, Optimist, VFW and others that require dues payment on a regular basis. These folks will have a set batch of volunteering opportunities that you will need to make a commitment to. In order to add your own personal agenda to the fold you may have to spend a few years and perhaps take the presidency in order to make the push.
Other opportunities would be through the little festivals that you find scattered through communities everywhere. These opportunities will be pretty focused on what their event is all about. The great thing about these is that if the event drew you, you'll meet a bunch of like minded that you can easily hang around with while you do whats needed for the event.

Habitat for humanity is one of my personal favorites

GO TO YOUR LOCAL SOUP KITCHEN OR CHURCH FOOD PANTRY & HELP HAND OUT FOOD...