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Ideas for
Creating Your Own Direct Service Project
-
Reach
out to the needy
-
Help the
sick
-
Make
life brighter for underprivileged kids
-
Promote
health and safety
-
Raise
money for an important cause
-
Protect
the environment
-
Be
a beacon to younger children
-
Work
with senior citizens
-
Fix
up your town or neighborhood
-
Enable
the disabled
-
Collect
and donate needed items
-
Encourage
respect for others
-
Provide
comfort or support to those in crisis
-
Campaign
against smoking or substance abuse
-
Be
true to your school
-
Take
care of animals
-
Or
do something completely different
1. Reaching
out to the needy
- Tutor seven immigrant
children in English and spend time helping their families settle
into the community by providing them with essential items and access
to community services.
- Provide meals to
hungry families.
- Prepare bag lunches and
distribute them to homeless people on the streets of Memphis.
- Chair a community
campaign that collects coats and eyeglasses for the needy.
- Go to a community soup
kitchen every week to assist those in need by mending their clothing
and the bags they used to carry their belongings.
- Help start a project to
deliver home-cooked meals to the homeless during the cold fall and
winter months.
- Start a youth-run
volunteer organization that helps non-English-speaking refugees obtain
healthcare, food, jobs and other essentials after they arrive in the
U.S.
- Help build homes for
low-income families through Habitat for Humanity.
- Assist families at a
homeless shelter by holding a bake sale to buy needed items, obtaining
gift certificates from local restaurants, babysitting children so
their parents could go to school, and delivering food, toys, books,
and clothing.
- Persuade your school
district to start donating unused food to an organization that
supplies food to the homeless.
- Direct an annual
Thanksgiving food drive and sit-down dinner for residents of a local
homeless shelter.
- Research, print, and
distribute a Spanish-language guide to help Hispanic immigrants find
and take advantage of low-cost healthcare.
- Create a vegetable
garden to grow produce for a homeless shelter and soup kitchen.
2. Help
The Sick
- Help create a program that
educates high school students about organ donation, and arrange for
professional football players to provide autographs to students who
sign donor cards.
- Create a huge display of
photographs and stories of juvenile cancer survivors at a children's
hospital to give hope and inspiration to kids struggling with the
disease.
- Make "crazy-patch"
quilts for infants hospitalized with heart conditions.
- Raise money to buy new toys once
a week for patients at a children's hospital.
- serve on the board of a home for
AIDS patients, helping to raise operating funds, handling numerous
chores and providing companionship to the residents.
- Provide comfort and
companionship to young patients at a local hospital.
- Create an Web site
offering information and advice for teens who suffer from Crohn's
Disease.
- Start a support and information
network for individuals with scoliosis and their families.
- Chair an AIDS awareness committee
at your school that collects money and gifts for people with AIDS.
- Recruit people to sign up with
the National Bone Marrow Registry, and then raised money to pay for
their blood tests.
- Organize a petition drive for
increased government funding of cancer research, chair fund-raisers at
your school, and assist with free cancer screenings at senior citizen
centers.
- Start an annual toy sale to raise
money for the playroom at a hospital
- Organize a Halloween party for
young cancer patients.
- Dress up as a clown and performed
magic and clown shows at hospitals and homeless shelters.
- Volunteer at a local hospital,
organizing patient charts, filing, faxing, and performing other needed
tasks.
- Create a fund to support
spinal-cord research and to buy computers for kids to use while
they're in the hospital.
- Decorate and distribute caps to
cancer patients who have lost their hair because of treatments.
3.
Make life brighter for underprivileged kids
- Collect used books to set up
libraries at homeless shelters, daycare centers and elementary schools
that serve children who cannot afford books of their own.
- Start a club that gives private
music lessons to underprivileged children.
- Solicit donations of school
supplies and backpacks from stores, companies, and individuals, then
give them to needy children at local childcare centers.
- Create an outreach program for
at-risk kids that includes a haunted house Halloween party.
- Start a student-run organization
that pairs schools with area churches to encourage church members to
sponsor elementary students who cannot afford their school fees.
- Organize an overnight camp girls
in foster care, which features games, hiking, arts and crafts
projects, and an astronomy presentation.
- Participate in "Bikes for
Tykes," a program that collects and refurbishes used bicycles for
underprivileged children.
- Design and fill "treasure
chests" with toiletries, toys and snacks for children placed in
temporary shelters.
- Initiate a coloring book and
crayon drive to benefit homeless children staying at shelters in the
area.
- Organize a community-wide sports
uniform and equipment drive to benefit inner-city children and their
families.
- Collect used suitcases so that
children living in foster homes will not have to use trash bags for
their belongings when they move home to home.
- Lead a campaign to donate books
and games to adolescents in Puerto Rico's penitentiaries.
- Work with shoe manufacturers and
local shoe stores to donate new shoes to underprivileged kids.
- Plan a holiday shopping trip to
allow disadvantaged children to buy gifts for themselves and others.
- Start a summer tennis education
program for inner-city youngsters.
- Work with local photo stores to
offer more than 100 underprivileged children a chance to have their
pictures taken with Santa Claus free of charge.
- Recruit a group of students at
your school to spend a day at a home for teenage runaways, where you
could paint, clean up the yard, and spend time with the residents.
4. Promote
health and safety
- organize a school and community
campaign to promote the importance of safe and sober driving.
- help raise money to provide free
bicycle helmets to needy first- and second-grade children at a local
elementary school, and deliver a presentation on why it's
"cool" to wear a helmet.
- produce a video to teach
elementary school students what to do in case of a kidnapping, home
break-in, car accident, and other emergencies.
- establish a youth task force to
combat crime in your school.
- conceive a school-wide assembly
on bus safety and emergency procedures.
- develop a theatrical presentation
to educate teenagers about the importance of making sound decisions
about drugs, sex, health and other issues.
- help launch a program at your
school that addresses eating disorders and encourages girls to feel
good about their bodies.
- found a club at her school that
works to prevent student suicides through assemblies, plays, and other
activities.
- create a children's bicycle
safety class using interactive games and indoor and outdoor exercises.
- organize a series of toy swaps
called "Guns Aren't Fun" that encourage kids to trade in
their toy guns for other, non-violent toys.
5. Raise
money for an important cause
- organize a series of Beanie Baby
shows to raise money for a local home for unwed mothers and their
newborns.
- create and sell a cookbook
containing recipes submitted by children, and use the proceeds to buy
school supplies for disadvantaged children.
- design and operate a
"haunted house" to raise money for a particular group.
- organize a
"jump-rope-a-thon."
- initiate an annual 48-hour
swing-a-thon on your front porch.
- start an annual softball game
featuring local celebrities.
- organize a walk-a-thon.
- start a newspaper "by kids
and for kids" to raise money.
- write to celebrities to ask for
donations of unwanted items and then auction them off to raise money.
- organize a fundraising
competition among homerooms at your school, with a pizza party as the
prize for the top class.
- help organize a roller skating
"skate-a-long."
- host annual carnivals for local
youngsters to raise money.
- recruit sponsors for the
launching of balloons, which contain slips of paper stating the
purpose of the launch and the sponsor's name.
- organize a wheelchair basketball
game at your school to raise money.
6. Protect
the environment
- start an oil-recycling
program to prevent water contamination caused by crude oil dumping.
- help create a mobile,
hands-on science education center to increase community awareness of
air and water purification.
- launch efforts to
recycle aluminum, plastic, Christmas trees, telephone books, greeting
cards and clothing, and promote conservation throughout your
community.
- plant trees and repair
hiking trails.
- organize a
community-wide "trash bash" that rallies volunteers to clean
up city blocks.
- work with a local
sanitation facility to start a recycling club at your school.
- promote groundwater
protection through speeches, presentations, puppet shows, public
service announcements, a newsletter, and guided tours.
7. Be
a beacon to young children
- create a mentoring program that
recruits high school students to serve as mentors for elementary
school students from abusive or unstable environments.
- train high school students from
the suburbs to tutor first-grade students from the inner city.
- begin an e-mentoring peer
relationship online with abused or at-risk kids.
- collect used books for kids who
don't have books of their own, and volunteer to read stories at local
schools to encourage children to read.
- start a summer reading hour for
young children at a your school, featuring age-appropriate books and
activities that pertaining to the stories.
- make presentations to
third-graders on the joys of books and libraries, giving each child a
personal library card and a T-shirt reading "Your library
card...don't leave home without it."
- perform a series of plays for
elementary school children at area libraries.
8. Work
with senior citizens
- create the "Pet
Pantry," a program that makes free pet food available to
low-income senior citizens so they won't have to choose between buying
essentials and keeping their pets.
- spearhead a program in which high
school students help retirees learn how to use computers.
- create a musical entertainment
program to cheer up elderly residents of assisted-living
facilities.
- sew lap blankets and wheelchair
bags for nursing home residents.
- create personalized birthday and
"get well" cards for nursing home residents.
- organize a formal dance
"prom" for local senior citizens the night before your own
high school prom.
- read stories and poems to
residents of a nursing home, and organize an arts and crafts night.
- coordinate fashion shows, holiday
visits, craft activities, and outdoor planting projects.
- organize a Christmas Dinner
Theater for senior citizens and sell tables to local businesses to pay
for a turkey dinner, a play, music, and dancing.
9. Fix
up your town or neighborhood
- enlist the help of local children
and their families to plant flowers over an inner-city area.
- paint over graffiti.
- lobby local government to restore
an abandoned and neglected neighborhood park that has become a hangout
for drug dealers.
- seek and obtain permission from
his city clerk to restore a neglected flower garden in a city park.
- petition to install sidewalks and
streetlights on a dangerous stretch of roadway.
10. Enable
the disabled
- develop a vocal music performance
class for developmentally challenged adults in your community.
- organize a youth walkathon to
help purchase a wheelchair-accessible van for a disabled student
attending your school.
- develop a program to provide
companionship to handicapped group home residents through
"buddy" relationships with middle and high school students.
- develop a free audio library for
people of all ages who cannot read due to poor eyesight or illness.
- deliver books and audio tapes to
home-bound senior citizens and physically challenged individuals
living in your community.
- organize a horseback riding
program for handicapped children.
- provide dance instruction to
pre-teen girls with developmental disabilities.
- help a group of mentally and
physically disabled people enjoy the sport of bowling once a week at a
local bowling alley.
- start a T-ball team for mentally
and physically handicapped children.
- sew cloth "caddies"
that can be used to hold personal items for people in wheelchairs.
11. Collect
and donate needed items
- conduct a community-wide campaign
that collects used eyeglasses for people who could not afford new
ones.
- initiate a campaign to collect
gently used musical instruments for students who wanted to play in
your school band but cannot afford to buy or rent their own.
- organize a collection drive to
provide pencils, scissors, binders, and other classroom essentials to
fellow students who can't afford basic school supplies.
- organize a
"hair-a-thon" to get local girls to donate their hair to a
nonprofit organization that provides hairpieces to financially
disadvantaged children who suffer from medical hair loss.
- organize a "scavenger
hunt" food drive that involves several teams competing against
each other to see who can collect the most donated food.
- conduct a book drive that
provides every student at a local elementary school with a new book to
take home for summertime reading.
12. Encourage
Respect for Others
- start an international pen-pal
service that pairs people of different races around the world to
promote interracial understanding.
- organize a club at your school
that promotes and rewards acts of kindness by students and teachers
throughout the year.
- start a campaign in your school
that encourages fellow students to wear blue ribbons to express
"zero tolerance" for hate crimes and other acts of
prejudice.
- create skits featuring singing
and ventriloquism to educate others about discrimination and other
social issues at schools, teacher workshops, and nursing homes.
- form the Social Awareness
Organization at your school, which addresses social issues such as
racism, sexism, homophobia, and political injustice.
13. Provide
comfort or support to those in crisis
- throw birthday parties for
children staying at an emergency shelter.
- start a campaign to purchase
stuffed animals for your local police, fire, and emergency medical
departments to give to children in crisis situations.
- create plaster hand and foot
molds of terminally ill children as keepsakes for family members in
association with a children's hospice agency.
- start a video project that
provides families of terminally ill patients with a "living"
record of their loved ones after they're gone.
- make burial gowns for premature
infants that cannot survive, as a way of easing their families' pain.
14. Campaign
against smoking or substance abuse
- stage a simulated traffic
accident at your school to graphically demonstrate to other students
the horrors of drunk driving.
- develop a "buddy-check"
drug prevention program that encourages teens to pair up and support
their buddies in a promise to be drug- and alcohol-free.
15. Be
true to your school
- create a "welcome
wagon" at her school to make every new student feel at home.
- design a landscaping project to
beautify an empty lot at a local elementary school.
- provide a volunteer baby-sitting
service during school PTA meetings.
- prepare and conduct an
instructional seminar that taught teachers at your school how to use
computers.
16. Take
care of animals
- raise money to buy bulletproof
vests for police dogs.
- collected blankets for newborn
and sick animals at the zoo.
- help care for animals at a local
animal shelter, assist with adoptions, and give speeches on
animal-related issues.
17. Or
do something completely different
- persuade your state to declare a
special day in recognition of the needs and importance of children,
then organize a community youth celebration on that day.
- create a youth Chamber of
Commerce in your town to "provide kids who are leaders and
entrepreneurs with an outlet for business opportunities."
- conduct voter registration drives
at your school.
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