Service Ideas
Here are a few project ideas to get you started:
- Volunteer at a homeless shelter.
- Work in a local soup kitchen.
- Bake cookies for a firehouse
- Help build houses in weather damaged areas.
- Help with construction at a local park or other public area.
- Clean up a park or other part of the community.
- Start or participate in a mentoring program (i.e. Big Brother, Big Sister)
- Pick up trash on a highway.
- Restore trails or habitats in a National, State, or County park.
- Tutor underprivileged students.
- Help at an after-school enrichment program.
- Hold or attend a blood drive.
- Read to children at the library.
- Participate in a fundraising walk for a cause (i.e. Walk Now for Autism)
- Make get well cards for hospital patients.
- Volunteer at a hospital pushing wheelchairs or keeping patients company.
- Organize a fundraiser (i.e. concert, dinner, show, etc.) for a charity of your choice.
- Help cook, package, or deliver for a local food bank.
- Volunteer at a safe home for battered women.
- Walk dogs at a shelter
- Volunteer at a Nursing Home
- Plant trees
- Establish a Helping Hands Committee
- Participate in Highway cleanup or the Highway garden project
- Volunteer for the following worthy organizations:
- Rebuilding Together: helps fix homes for low income families (http://www.rebuildingtogether.org/section/about/)
- Twilight Wish Foundation: provides service and comfort for aging Americans (http://www.twilightwishfoundation.org/)
- National Parks Service: helps preserve and protect America’s national treasures (http://www.nps.gov/gettinginvolved)
- Share our Strength: fights childhood hunber (http://strength.org/)
- Citizen Schools: provides inspiring after-school education for young people (http://www.citizenschools.org/whatwedo/index.cfm)
- CARE: fights global poverty (http://www.care.org/about/index.asp)
- International Rescue Committee: provides safety and sanctuary for victims of violence and disaster (http://www.theirc.org/about)
- Pink Heart Funds: provides hair for wigs for children with cancer (http://www.pinkheartfunds.com/page/page/4228856.htm)
- Fun fact: In the spring of 2009, Congress passed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which is a $5.7 billion bill that expands volunteer opportunities for Americans and helps nonprofit groups manage volunteers. Groups should look into this opportunity.