Just to give some fedback here - I called the Red cross Zurich last week and made an appointment for today. (http://www.roteskreuzzuerich.ch) the website is in german though.

The lady I spoke to was very warm and open - expalined the kind of volunteering activities available - the pros and cons of each of them - most of the activities do require some German - although they didn't mind the level too much - they just try to find something that would suit the volunteer.

They'll get back to me next week to let me know what they have for my profile. So that'll keep me out of trouble for a while ;-)!Once they find me a something to do that I'm happy with - they provide training for it too! Plus I can enroll in some educational courses which they offer which are free for volunteers.

I think it's a great way for me to practice my german at the same time be of some use!

Thanks guys for the suggestions.