Group Volunteering Ideas
Does your group want to take on serious social issues that affect a cross-section of the community? Below are some ideas for volunteering with organizations that address important community concerns.
Healthy Communities Parks and Open Spaces Youth Achievements Public Safety and Emergency ResponseHealthy Communities
Hunger & Housing
Daily Needs • Help cook and serve meals at a soup kitchen • Gather clothing and donate it to a local shelter • Make kits with combs, toothbrushes, shampoo, etc., for shelters
Consistent Needs • Make care packages with mittens, socks, t-shirts, long underwear, etc., for children and adults • Help repair or refurbish a homeless shelter
Long-term Needs • Work with an organization like Rebuilding Together or Habitat for Humanity to help repair or build homes
Older Adults
Daily Needs • Spend time with senior citizens at a retirement community or nursing home • Deliver meals to homebound individuals
Consistent Needs • Perform home repairs or yard work for seniors in need in your neighborhood • Hold a social event for your local nursing home
Long-Term Needs • Adopt a “grandfriend,” making regular visits
Health
Daily Needs • Participate in blood drives • Participate in fundraising and awareness walks
Consistent Needs • Help a local agency assemble health promotion kits • Help with health screenings at local stores, libraries or schools
Long-Term Needs • Join a hospital visitors program • Become a buddy to a person with chronic or life-threatening illness
Parks and Open Spaces
Environment
Daily Needs • Set up a recycling system for a local school or retirement community • Adopt a section of highways and regularly clean up litter
Consistent Needs • Team up with other families to raise funds and adopt an acre of threatened habitat • Launch a neighborhood educational campaign to conserve energy and water or to reduce waste
Long-term Needs • Create a “friends of the park” group to plant flowers and trees, clean up weeds and litter, and raise money for repairs
Youth Achievement
Education
Daily Needs • Raise money for Braille or large print books for the visually impaired • Plan a school supply drive and assemble “Back to School” kids for a local school
Consistent Needs • Volunteer with an adult literacy program and teach others to read • Become a tutor with a school or after-school program
Long-term Needs • Read books on tape for the visually impaired, using each family member as a different character in the book • Work with your friends’ families and hold a kickoff celebration
Youth Development
Daily needs • Volunteer at a Boys & Girls club or other club or teen center • Help organize a youth volunteer project and raise money for the project materials
Consistent needs • Volunteer as a family to mentor children on an ongoing basis at a local mentoring organization
Long-term needs • Work with a school or teen center to organize an after-school basketball tournament or other sports program • Create a “safe zone” that includes a play/study area in the community for children
Public Safety & Emergency Response
Community Safety
Daily needs • Volunteer to be crossing guards or bus stop monitors before and after school
Consistent needs • Organize a block watch for your neighborhood
Long-term needs • Create a neighborhood association to address issues of quality of life, crime and safety, traffic, and other concerns