Unfortunately, the places near to me take you to pay a "training and materials fee" to be able to volunteer for them (at least the places that interest me for volunteering. I prefer working behind the scenes with animals as opposed to working with people). The only place that let us slide in the free Is the place we now volunteer, and its 20-some miles away. Therapy is also far, so when I have to choose between gas for therapy and gas for volunteering, therapy wins out (at least the way my head is at this time, therapy must win out)...
And yeah, our financial situation is really depressing. I just have no idea how to improve it. The state says we make too much money to qualify for assistance, but we still don't have enough money to live. It sucks.