Identify possible community projects activities

General Ideas:

Donate or raise money for your local Red Cross
Organize a community blood drive
Send cards to soldiers serving overseas
For your next birthday, ask for charitable donations instead of gifts
Hold a bake sale for your favorite charity
Read books or letters to a person who is visually impaired
Organize a wheelchair basketball team
Participate in a charity race
Organize an event or parade for Memorial Day
Volunteer to help at a charity auction
Participate in National Youth Service Day in April
Contact a tree farm about donating Christmas trees to nursing homes, hospitals, or to families who can’t afford to buy their own
Collect unused makeup and perfume to donate to a center for abused women
Help register people to vote
Organize a car wash and donate the profits to charity
Help deliver meals and gifts to patients at a local hospital

Helping Children and Schools:

Tutor children during or after school
Donate stuffed animals to children in hospitals
Organize games and activities for children in hospitals or who are visiting hospitalized relatives
Knit or crochet baby blankets to be donated to hospitals or homeless shelters
Collect baby clothes and supplies to donate to new parents
Organize a Special Olympics event for children and teenagers
Sponsor a bike-a-thon and give away bike safety gear, like helmets and knee pads, as prizes
Collect used sports equipment to donate to families and after-school programs
Volunteer at a summer camp for children who have lost a parent
Sponsor a child living in a foreign country, either on your own or as part of a group
Coach a youth sports team
Put on performances for children in hospitals
Give free music lessons to schoolchildren
Become a volunteer teen crisis counselor
Organize a summer reading program to encourage kids to read
Organize an Easter egg hunt for neighborhood children
Create a new game for children to play
Organize events to help new students make friends
Babysit children during a PTA meeting
Organize a reading hour for children at a local school or library
Donate used children’s books to a school library
Work with the local health department to set up an immunization day or clinic to immunize children against childhood diseases
Volunteer to help with Vacation Bible School or other religious camps

Helping Senior Citizens:

Read to residents at a nursing home
Deliver groceries and meals to elderly neighbors
Teach computer skills to the elderly
Drive seniors to doctor appointments
Mow an elderly neighbor’s lawn
Host a bingo night for nursing home residents
Host a holiday meal for senior citizens
Make birthday cards for the elderly
Donate and decorate a Christmas tree at a nursing home
Organize a family day for residents of a retirement home and relatives to play games together
Ask residents of a retirement home to tell you about their lives
Pick up medicine for an elderly neighbor
Perform a concert or play at a senior center
Help elderly neighbors clean their homes and organize their belongings
Rake leaves, shovel snow, or wash windows for a senior citizen
Deliver cookies to a homebound senior citizen

Helping Animals and the Environment:

Take care of cats and dogs at an animal shelter
Clean up a local park
Raise money to provide a bulletproof vest for a police dog
Plant a tree for Arbor Day
Place a bird feeder and bird fountain in your backyard
Start a butterfly garden in your community
Sponsor a recycling contest
Grow flowers in your backyard then give bouquets to hospital patients or people who are housebound
Help create a new walking trail at a nature center or park
Update the signs along a nature trail
Adopt an acre of rainforest
Help train service dogs
Participate in the cleanup of a local river, pond, or lake
Foster animals that shelters don’t have space for
Organize a spay and neuter your pet program
Care for a neighbor’s pet while they are away
Sponsor an animal at your local zoo
Train your pet to be a therapy animal and bring it to hospitals or nursing homes
Build and set up a bird house
Organize a carpool to reduce car emissions
Campaign for more bike lanes in your town
Volunteer at a nature camp and teach kids about the environment
Test the water quality of a lake or river near you
Plant native flowers or plants along highways

Helping the Hungry and/or Homeless:

Build a house with Habitat for Humanity
Donate your old clothes
Volunteer at a soup kitchen
Donate old eyeglasses to an organization that collects that and distributes them to people in need
Donate non-perishable food to a food bank
Donate blankets to a homeless shelter
Host a Thanksgiving dinner for people who may not be able to afford their own
Offer to babysit or nanny for a family in need
Make “care kits” with shampoo, toothbrushes, combs, etc. to donate to homeless shelters
Prepare a home-cooked meal for the residents of a nearby homeless shelter
Collect grocery coupons to give to a local food bank
Help repair or paint a local homeless shelter
Donate art supplies to kids in a homeless shelter
Help organize and sort donations at a homeless shelter
Babysit children while their parents look for jobs
Become a Big Buddy for children at a homeless shelter
Take homeless children on outings
Bake a batch of cookies or loaf of bread and deliver it to a soup kitchen
Build flower boxes for Habitat for Humanity houses
Organize a winter clothes drive to collect coats, hats, scarves, and gloves to be donated
Make first aid kits for homeless shelters

Reducing Crime and Promoting Safety:

Promoting Community Enhancement:

Paint park benches
Donate used books to your local library
Become a tour guide at your local museum
Repaint community fences
Plant flowers in bare public areas
Organize a campaign to raise money to buy and install new playground equipment for a park
Participate in or help organize a community parade
Clean up vacant lot
Produce a neighborhood newspaper
Campaign for more lighting along poorly lit streets
Create a newcomers group in your neighborhood to help welcome new families
Petition your town leaders to build more drinking fountains and public restrooms
Volunteer to clean up trash at a community event
Adopt a local highway or road and clean up trash along it
Help fix or raise funds to repair a run-down playground
Clean up after a natural disaster