Where to Volunteer in Chicago?

Volunteer with Open Heart Magic and make magic happen for kids in Chicago children’s hospitals

Are you looking for where to volunteer in Chicago?

Become an Open Heart Magic Volunteer and bring laughter and joy to young patients during their critical time in the hospital. Your magical touch could transform a child’s hospital experience, making it brighter and less stressful.

APPLY TO BE A HOSPITAL MAGICIAN

Make a child laugh and feel stronger during their hospital stay.

Imagine being the person who makes a child laugh for the first time during their hospital stay.

At Open Heart Magic, we believe in the power of magic to transform hospital experiences for young patients. Your magic can break the clinical monotony of medical procedures, infuse joy, and provide much-needed comfort to both the child and their family. You can create a moment in their hospital stay that the young patient – and the parents – will remember for many years to come. Being there is a big deal which is why OHM Hospital Magicians work with kids in the toughest of situations – because the hospital staff knows Bedside Magic works.

You can deliver hope and joy.

Children in hospitals often face immense stress and fear as they receive critical medical care. They are removed from their normal routines and subjected to various medical procedures. This is where you come in. By becoming a Hospital Magician, you can create magical moments that distract, delight, and empower these young patients.

Transform Lives – One Smile at a Time:

  • For the Child: Your magic can transport them away from the hospital environment, even if just for a moment, helping them feel like a child again.
  • For the Family: Witnessing their child laugh and find joy can bring immense relief and hope to families navigating difficult health journeys, including those with children struggling with cancer or long-term illnesses.

A Unique Opportunity to Give Back:

  • Work Hand-in-Hand with Hospital Staff: Collaborate with dedicated hospital staff to bring joy to children’s lives.
  • Extensive Training and Support: While not everyone passes the rigorous application and training process known as Magic U, those who do will gain the skills to create truly magical and rewarding experiences.

How to Become a Volunteer:

  • Apply Now: Sign up and submit your application to become an Open Heart Magic Hospital Magician.
  • Interview and Training: If selected, you will undergo an intensive training program to hone your magical skills and learn how to work sensitively with hospitalized children.
  • Bring Magic to Life: Once trained, you will visit hospital rooms, bringing joy, laughter, and a sense of normalcy to young patients.

 

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“Other organizations I have volunteered for have been great, however, they are often the behind the scenes work for the people you are helping. Volunteering for OHM allows you see to the real life impact you have on someone and the joy you brought to them in real time.”

Michael John Siwek, volunteer since 2022

 

APPLY TO BE A HOSPITAL MAGICIAN

Searching for where to volunteer?

You can bring laughter to a child’s hospital stay.

Imagine the power of making a child laugh for the first time in a hospital room. Through Open Heart Magic, you can do just that. You have the opportunity to transform a child’s hospital experience by volunteering as a Hospital Magician, and bringing joy and laughter to young patients during their critical time of need.

You can create magical moments.

Hospitals are scary, uncertain places for kids. Kids go through so much. Kids are isolated, away from their home, their school, their routines, and their cozy, warm beds. As a volunteer, you can bring a spark of light and joy to these kids during the toughest of times. You will see kids transform directly in front of your eyes. You will be the magic makers.

APPLY TO BE A HOSPITAL MAGICIAN

Where to volunteer in Chicago?

  • Advocate Children’s Hospital — Oak Lawn
  • Advocate Children’s Hospital — Park Ridge
  • Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital
  • Ascension Saint Alexius Women and Children’s Hospital
  • Central DuPage Hospital
  • Loyola University Medical Center
  • Northshore Evanston Hospital
  • Rush University Children’s Hospital
  • University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital

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“Magic U. was the hardest (and most fun) class I’ve ever taken. I tell people all the time it was better than any grad school class! And especially at graduation, getting my magic jacket meant the world to me as I knew I was now ready to help kids.”

Julie Witczak, volunteer since 2023

Be prepared – for everything – with a world-class training.

You will learn the most magical of skills.

There is no better volunteer experience than that of a Hospital Magician. Open Heart Magic provides elite volunteer training that covers everything: like how to safely reach kids in vulnerable situations; how to connect with young patients and their families; how to adapt to meet kids where they are; how to perform professional sleight-of-hand magic; and more.
 
You don’t need any magic experience to become a volunteer.

Become a Certified Hospital Magician volunteer.

No matter one’s magic or hospital experience, everyone is required to attend Open Heart Magic’s Magic University training to learn our unique approach and key hospital protocol to safely work with kids in the hospital.

At Magic University, an 11-week training intensive, you’ll learn how magic and hospital protocol work hand-in-hand, and – most importantly – how to meet kids where they are and engage them through a personal bedside magic show.

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“Before joining OHM, I knew nothing about magic and probably less than nothing about hospital protocol. However, after the training in Magic U, I felt very prepared and comfortable on both fronts.”

Bob Driscoll, volunteer since 2018

 

Magic University Volunteer Training:

  • Hands-on Magic Instruction: Learn professional sleight-of-hand and close-up magic from current Hospital Magicians with in-person sessions designed to teach magic to anyone, no matter their skill level.
  • Critical Protocol Lessons: Be trained and tested on key hospital protocol in order to safely reach kids at their hospital bedside. All volunteers are certified to work independently in the hospital.
  • Virtual Video Instruction: Developing magic skills takes time and patience. Open Heart Magic has a library of video support, so new skills are not only learned, they’re mastered.

APPLY TO BE A HOSPITAL MAGICIAN
 

Questions about Magic University?

Please reach out to our Senior Program Manager, Aaron Wolf, to learn more about our volunteer training.

EMAIL AARON
 

Quite possibly the best place to volunteer in Chicago.

A volunteer experience you didn’t think was possible.

The feeling you’ll leave a hospital room is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. You are the reason that a scared, vulnerable, sick child will find joy and laugh during such a critical time. These patients will transform into kids right in front of you. And you’ll never forget that feeling.

You can find purpose as a volunteer.

After working at child’s hospital bedside, you will gain a new perspective on life. Juggling it all can be tough – family, work, extracurriculars – and it all adds up. Fill your free time with something meaningful, and be a part of something spectacular.
 

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“There is no better feeling than walking into a quiet & solemn hospital room, spending twenty minutes in there, and walking out to hootin’ and hollerin’. Easily the best part of my week!”

Mark Passerini, volunteer since 2014

 

APPLY TO BE A HOSPITAL MAGICIAN