Conduct a canned food drive
- Collect clothing/hygiene supplies/toys/paper products/blankets to give to a shelter
- Help cook casseroles with family members to be served at shelters
- Inspect and sort canned food in a local food pantry
- Make sandwiches and bag lunches for homeless children or a shelter
- Decorate bag lunches
- Organize snacks for walkers during fundraising events
- Make welcome baskets for new Habitat for Humanity homeowners
- Grow a vegetable garden and donate some of the food to a shelter
- Glean fresh produce for food pantries
- Collect clothing for goodwill
- Conduct toiletry, mitten, or book drives
- Collect art and school supplies for homeless children
- Sponsor a birthday party for a homeless child
- Have your friends bring canned food for your birthday party that you can donate to a homeless shelter
- Have a lemonade stand or bake sale and give money to a shelter
- Research homeless issues with your family and help your friends and neighbors understand the problem as it relates to your community
- Draw pictures and write stories about homelessness in your area and help people learn more
- Participate in a Walk or Run and gather pledges to raise funds for food banks and pantries
- Go with other family members to collect donations and deliver them to shelters
- Make fleece tie blankets
- Adopt a family: give gifts anonymously or holiday gifts, have a friendship with them, have barbecues together
- Work, plant, water, weed and/or harvest in a community garden
Assist Children
Make pillows, cards, games, or stuffed toys for children who are sick in the hospital
- Make booboo bunnies for children to receive at a clinic
- Collect items to make baby bags for poor mothers who recently had a baby – may contain diapers, baby bottles, pacifiers, burp rags, formula, baby food, etc.
- Hold a drive to collect sunscreen/flip flops/healthy snacks/school supplies for children
- Hold clothing drives and donate clothes to those in need
- Re-paint or re-build playground equipment
- Have a birthday supply drive to give a child in need the party supplies necessary for a birthday party
- Make, buy, or donate toys for children in orphanages or shelters
- Sort through clothing, toys or books others have donated for children in need
- Play basketball or other sports with children in need
- Donate your hair for children with cancer or other medical conditions
- Put together a baby layette for new moms
- Make a first day of school package with school supplies
- Conduct a fundraiser to help send a child to summer camp
- Make care packages (i.e. sunscreen, stationery) for children at camp
- Write letters to or for sick children
- Organize a teddy bear drive
- Draw pictures for Save the Children
- Donate and sort books, clothes and party supplies for disadvantaged children
- Select and wrap gifts for the holidays
Befriend the Elderly
Have a talent show or musical program for residents at a nursing home
- Make emergency storm packs for elderly in times of need
- Organize a Bingo evening or game night
- Perform seasonal yard work including weeding, mowing lawns, raking leaves, and shoveling snow for nursing homes
- Have puppet shows
- Plant flowers
- Make decorations for rooms – could make flowers out of tissue paper or construction paper to brighten up a room or attach to wheelchairs or beds
- Clip coupons for seniors – often they are on a tight budget
- Listen to stories and memories about his/her life
- Label pictures to preserve memories of people and places (using acid-free materials)
- Make cards or write letters for a special older friend
- Play board games with nursing home residents
- Perform a play for residents
- Read a book or the newspaper
- Make lap blankets
Care for Sick or Disabled People
Help with setup and decorations and/or cleanup of a party
- Put on a special party with a holiday, birthday or other fun theme
- Have a special story time or reading hour
- Tell funny stories
- Do a Walk or Run to educate and raise money for cancer research (or another important disease)
- Help with painting projects and/or horticulture
- Grant “wishes” for children who are sick
- Make food for families with relatives in the hospital
- Put on a concert for people with disabilities
Respond to the Environment
Help clean up shore around lakes, beaches/coasts, river
- Clean up litter on the street or in a park
- Weed in a cemetery or park
- Use more energy-efficient light bulbs
- Work on a community garden or farm
- Clear trails
- Start a compost pile
- Participate in a city cleanup in your local area
- Research about specific environmental issues and present for others in a creative, fun, and educational way
- Recycle!
- Fix a leaky faucet for yourself or a friend
- Learn about energy conservation and make daily changes at home
- Plant trees and other native species to preserve natural habitats
- Plant flowers and trees in your yard or (with permission) in other public areas
- Come up with creative craft projects out of re-used materials to combine with other volunteer opportunities (ex. helping children, the elderly, or people with disabilities)
- Make sets for dramatic productions out of cardboard boxes and other re-used items
International/Culture
Gather supplies to make and send school kits to children in Iraq
- Sponsor a child living abroad
- Send a child to school in Tanzania
- Write to a pen pal overseas
LOCAL OPPORTUNITIES: