Community Service Ideas
You have an entire calendar year to employ 365 community service ideas! We’ve listed a few fun and easy volunteer projects you can enjoy every month to better the community. We’ll get you started on one every month. Be sure to leave us your ideas for other community service projects.
Community Service Ideas for JANUARY
Kick off the year with a new resolution: to volunteer and better the community at least once a month! Brainstorm your 12 month community service game plan.
Care for Children in FEBRUARY
Show altruism by visiting children with cancer at hospitals. Organize a candy collection bin and ask your neighbors to purchase a bag of candy hearts next time they shop for groceries. Bring oodles of smiles to children with cancer!
Environmental Projects in MARCH
DO something green for the environment on St Patty’s Day!
Or, build the community by handing out apples to the hungry and homeless on March 11th for Johnny Appleseed Day.
Civic Engagement Opportunities in APRIL
Mark your calendar for Global Youth Service Day starting April 24th. A great opportunity to engage the entire family in great environmental and humanitarian projects for children.
Humanity Services in MAY
Create May Day care baskets for people in need at your local homeless shelter.
Better Your Community in JUNE
Celebrate International Picnic Day on June 18th by inviting poor and homeless families in to enjoy snacks in the park.
Health Care Volunteer Services in JULY
Visit nursing homes and care for the elderly. Recognize veterans who have fought for our country and share your care and appreciation.
Help Needy Children in AUGUST
Collect old board games, books, and stationary to donate to afterschool programs for disadvantaged or underprivileged children. Or donate to school classrooms to encourage education and improve a child’s learning experience.
Encourage Children’s Charity during SEPTEMBER
Encourage your children to volunteer in afterschool youth service projects. Colleges give away scholarship money to students who have shown tremendous community service involvement!
Organize Drives & Fundraisers in OCTOBER
Collect old coats from your community to donate to the homeless shelters and people in need. Or volunteer to collect extra Halloween candy from your neighborhood to give to children in the foster care system.
Give food to the homeless in NOVEMBER
Volunteer at your local soup kitchen to feed the homeless for Thanksgiving.
Help Poor Children in DECEMBER
Encourage your children to donate old toys to holiday Toy Drives for children of poor families. Then chime the bell of The Salvation Army charity kettle over the holidays and give a charitable contribution to help others less fortunate.
There are many community service opportunities floating around! Share with us your community service ideas…
3. April 2009 at 8:02 pm :
Wow, that was like a holiday list. There’s a “giving holiday” in each month! A year’s worth of planning to “give” is a bit much for me, but planning to give week after week is more along my path. I am not patient enough (yet) to hold off giving to a big event. I like to keep my giving to daily or weekly because that’s how I keep my confidence up.
I hope this blog reaches the hearts of those high end givers because the schedule is quite exquisite~
3. April 2009 at 8:48 pm :
I don’t plan to give….I go where and when my skills or abilities are needed. I don’t give to big events any more than I give to large charities. I’m selfish, I want to make the rules on how much of my contribution a person will receive and I don’t want anyone else deciding how my contribution would best serve the recipient. I am selfish because I know what it’s like to have someone else decide just how much you need, just what kind of equipment you need, what kind of work you need done, where you need to live etc. I think each person who has a need knows what they NEED but many don’t know the variations or alternatives that could meet that need. That is why I prefer to take a more personal approach.
I will use my scooter and wheelchair need as an example. Large organizations did not feel I needed a scooter because I did not, nor could not use it inside my home. I did not need to attend social events, visit parks, or take walks. I didn’t need it for shopping since most stores supply a scooter. Therefore it was not a need.
Those who donated to me personally saw that the scooter was a need for emotional and spiritual well being….quality of life. Help did not come from larger organizations.
I faced a problem getting new leg braces, what was needed was not what anyone was going to help with. Comfort is not a need. Though I have medicaid and had my prescriptions for leg braces I did not get them because the bruising and pain with what I would receive outweighed the benefit. I faced the same problem with my hand braces so I bought my own.
My new/used wheelchair is now inadequate for my physical changes but I’m not eligible for a manual wheelchair at all because of my arm weakness and a power chair is contraindicated. I will again need to buy my own chair. Programs are designed to help people help you when you don’t have insurance. They don’t help you when you *can* get help from medicaid but reject the products you would receive because for your personal life, it would be worthless. In my mind why make taxpayers who cover my medical care pay for something that will sit in my closet?
Because of what I have been through for over 25 years, I am the one who is interested in a persons quality of life and I narrow my volunteering and giving down to helping a person with what they need, not what others think they need. It might make me less of a giving person since I’m so narrow in where I will give money or volunteer but I hope someone understands my reason behind my selfishness.
4. April 2009 at 12:46 am :
That it really cool on how this article has good deeds broke down month by month. Our local bike group is taking stuffed animals to the terminally ill on Sunday for Easter holidays. I think that is really nice. I told Brooks to go find some animals to donate. He’s fifteen now, so he doesn’t have a lot of stuffed animals left.
I really like that idea about game boards and crayons for after school programs. I never even thought about that. Thanks for bringing to my attention. I have a lot of games to donate.
Becky, try going to Craigs.list.com in your town and go to the want list ask tell people what you need. Also, go to the free section. That is where I found Brook’s hospital bed. Call your local veterns club and tell them what you need. Don’t forget your churches. You have nothing to lose, only gain.
4. April 2009 at 8:28 pm :
My plans are
Reaching out to my community and share my experience of what i have gone through since my accident, To share and meet wih people who are going through similar situation our life style have change but we must all understand. ( Our Hope Faith And Courage Remain Stronger Than Before.)
I want to partisipate more in my community activity volunteer my time in more social events by doing different things with people from all walks of life and different causes.
These are things one can do in their community that some time worth more than money, Letting the les fortunate and people in needs knows there are people out there that cares for them and they are not forgotten.
There lot of simple things things people in our community need that dont even cost money so socializing more in our community is a great experiment.
We all can accomplishment wonderful acheivment with these community involvements.
5. April 2009 at 12:45 am :
These are wonderful ideas. I think I am going to make a copy of this and share it with the people I work with at the Flea Market. There are so many people hurting out there and it would be so good to share a little sunshine.
There is a lady at the Flea Market that is 38 but, has very special needs. You could give her a gift for 25 cents and she would have a smile for the rest of the day and you have a friend for life. Just finding someone who needs a little cheering up and if you get them to smile you just earned yourself the best day ever. Thank you for this post.
7. April 2009 at 12:03 am :
I have been following craigs list with no luck, but never even considered the veterans club. Thanks for that tip. I’m not alone in this problem though. Right on my own street there is a veteran who is not getting the right equipment. Our motorcycle organization does lots of fund raisers for veterans because we know that while they do get basic equipment rarely is that equipment right for their specific needs. It’s usually of course better than nothing though so many never do complain but they suffer silently instead with other ailments that could be eliminated if only they had the right equipment.
It will take me a few years, but I’ll save up for the right wheelchair. Getting my home and property repaired and altered for the equipment I do have is the more pressing issue.
Right now between scooter and my current chair I can get around so I am doing much better than most people and really have little room to complain. It’s an observation more than a complaint. If you are lucky enough to have a family with money you can get the right equipment and can do more with your life. If you are unlucky…you don’t really advance very far in life. Money determines quality of life for the disabled and I find that very sad. I don’t need a nice house, I don’t need furniture, don’t need a nice car…but a wheelchair that would actually help me in all areas of living would cost more than a decent running used car, more than 6 months of mortgage! Something is wrong there IMO when a manual wheelchair can cost more than a good used vehicle, or half a year in a low cost home.
8. April 2009 at 1:14 am :
I great way to help the community is to get with your local blood center and do a blood drive. So many children and adults are in need of blood and platlets and the blood banks run so low around the holidays and summer time. And just thing not only are you helping the community you are saving lives.
12. April 2009 at 8:18 pm :
My daughter love to go in the field of the schools around our area and pick up all of the trash. It is so sad of how many people just throw their trash out of their cars. And even though we have a booth at a Flea Market we still bag of things that we could sell but, give to the Good Will or Salvation Army. It is a wonderful feeling when you can do things and you don’t have to get a ” thank you ” I pray my daughter realizes that no matter what problems we go through we still have a lot to give if we just take a look around.
Happy Easter everyone.
21. April 2009 at 1:24 am :
My future plans to help those in my community is to one day take public speaking classes and use my past 2 years of a nightmate as a testimony- I hope in womens churchs groups or a support group. I have no problem speaking to small groups.. but put me in front of a crowd.. and .I’d be on the floor face down!
21. April 2009 at 11:58 am :
Sheri – Great tip! Public Speaking classes are a brilliant way of improving your ability to communicate and advocate effectively. A good public speaker can be exceedingly influential in encouraging others to better the community.
22. April 2009 at 10:43 pm :
I agree! That is something I will never be…a good public speaker. I wish you all the luck Sheri in those future plans, you can change lives
23. April 2009 at 7:36 pm :
Kick off the year with a new resolution: to volunteer and better the community at least once a month! Brainstorm your 12 month community service game plan
I don’t know this may be totally off base but I was thinking about keeping kids off drugs. There is a local police officer in my new town that I met and we were talking he is fundraising for this group its like the boys and girls club but not funded by them. So anyway he main goal is to keep kids off the streets and have a place they can go have fun and stay drug free. I have decided to commit myself to once a month for now and he was really happy I did. I hope this will make a difference and I will do more as I learn more. I can do something I don’t know what but I know I will find a place to help there.
29. May 2009 at 9:04 pm :
Distribute sandwiches made from your leftovers.
My husband and I live in Los Angeles city. We live modestly but we usually have to buy more than we need when we shop for groceries because of how things are packaged. Maybe we could freeze bread to use up an entire loaf, but we don’t. There is usually enough left over in our fridge to make a few sandwiches out of extras we’d ordinarily be thinking about throwing out. So I’ve been trying to do this,I make sandwiches out of leftovers, stash them in zip bags and hand to the homeless who daily search the neighborhood for recyclables. I’ve thought, for what it costs to make dinner for two, we could be feeding more people, so I might as well plan on it when I shop.
1. June 2009 at 9:52 pm :
Thanks for your feedback Susan -
It’s good to see people looking out for and thinking of others.