IDEAS to Get you Started...
• Plant trees or wildflowers.
• Plant produce. Donate the harvest to a local food bank.
• Plant seeds. Sell the flowers or plants and donate the proceeds to a local organization in need.
• Pick up litter at a park.
• Put on a play at your school, a fair or festival about local environmental or human needs issues.
•Collect items for a time capsule.
•Make treats for a local senior home.
•Improve the school grounds.
•Develop and maintain a recycling program at school.
•Collect food, warm clothing, toys, or personal care items for the needy. Deliver to shelters. Remember shelters are in need of supplies all year long!
•Hold a Teddy Bear and Friends (Stuffed Animals) Drive.
Donate the collected animals to a Homeless Shelter for new arrivals.
•Collect unused make-up, perfume and other cosmetics for a center for abused women.
•Make center pieces, holiday cards, birthday cards, and notes for assisted living facilities, children hospital wards, or meals on wheels.
•Donate old eye glasses to an organization or place that recycles them for the needy.
•Collect old stuffed animals and dolls, clean them up, repair and then donate them.
•Collect old clothes and donate them for a dress-up area at a daycare or family shelter.
•Make a holiday basket for someone in need or crisis.
•Write letters to service men/women.
•Put together a care-package for service men/women.
•Form a litter patrol on school or park ground.
•In December contact a tree farm or nursery about donating a Christmas tree to a needy family, shelter or nursing home.
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♥ Start a kids club through Points of Life foundation: This year Kids Care Week will be celebrated from October 18th -24th.
This is a club where groups of young people work together to help others in their community and around the world. In the U. S. there are 1800 registered clubs.
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LITERACY BASED COMMUNITY SERVICE …
• Have kids practice reading a book and read it to a younger child who needs help learning how to read; a senior citizen who will benefit from companionship or a child in a special needs classroom in your school who is learning to read.
• Make a book on tape to contribute a local daycare center--or pediatric patients.
• Have youth read a book that will teach them how to do something to help others and then do it! Examples: building a birdhouse, making toys for animals at the animal shelter, or planting a garden).
• Read a newspaper to an elderly person who can no longer read the small print.
Adapted from Rahima Wade, service-learning instructor at the University of Iowa.
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♥ LAMINATED BOOKMARKS for your school or hometown library
Make some pretty bookmarks; leave them in a basket on the library counter for other students to take one when they check out books.
♥ Establish a PEN PAL PROJECT with senior citizens in a nursing home; children in a local hospital, or children in another country.
♥ Hold a USED BOOK SALE after school, or on an evening or Saturday at the school or the local library. Publicize the event to the school and local community. DONATE THE COLLECTED FUNDS to a worthy cause.
♥ A book drive can also be organized to collect new-- and excellent condition used books-- FOR CHILDREN WHO DO NOT HAVE ACCESS to many books (poverty or disaster areas in the U.S., other countries, a local Head Start or homeless shelter).
♥ You can also visit the "First Book" website for ideas for book related community service activities such as "Speed Read"...
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CONSIDER PUTTING TOGETHER PACKAGES FOR A CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL!
Suggestions Include:
- Books - activity books, board books, human body books, pop-up books, I Spy/Look-A-Likes/Where's Waldo books, talking books, Spanish books, vinyl books (new or gently used only)
- Small Plush animals (brand new only)
- Bubbles and flavored bubbles
- Lullaby music, sing-a-long music (Raffi, Wee Sing, Pooh Corner, Spanish language, "Transitions" by Placenta Music, Inc.
- Chapstick (variety of flavors)
- Clear plastic shoebox size containers for craft storage and organization
- Colored pencils
- Decks of playing cards - regular
- Gel pen sets
- Gift cards for special event planning (Michael's, Target, Toys R Us, Blockbuster, and grocery stores for food activities)
- Hair care items (brushes, big tooth combs, No More Tangles, pony tail holders, hair clips)
- Koosh balls
- Nail polish (individually wrapped & new) and nail stickers
- Party packs of Play-Doh
- Rattles (plastic only)
- Uno cards
- Word search books
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8 yr old triplets, Carly, Brian and Kailee delivered 5 wagons of toys and gift cards to Miami Children's Hospital on June 3, 2009. The toy drive was organized by young Kailee and her 2nd grade class at American Heritage School in Delray and through community sponsors.
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL... BAND-AID DRIVE
.....Kids love fun Band-Aids! Any kind of fun bandage is fine, but Band-Aid, Curad and Nexcare are some of the best. Current favorites are Scooby Doo, Sponge Bob, Dora the Explorer, Spiderman, and Batman. Latex-free Band-Aids are helpful.
CRAYON & MARKER DRIVE
.....Kids in the hospital use lots of art supplies! Children use Crayola crayons (small packs of 4 or 8 crayons work best), Crayola markers (bold, thin, washable, Color Wonder), Crayola colored pencils and construction paper. All supplies must be new.
♥ Make Handmade Blankets for Hospitals - various sizes for infants, children and teens - fleece blankets preferred.
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COMMUNITY SERVICE FOR ANIMAL SHELTERS -
1. Collect and donate items on animal organizations' wish lists: Example: Paper towels, dried dog food, milk substitute, portable cages, blankets and towels, cleansers, and food bowls.
2. Raise money for homeless pets or sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife-- by collecting coins.
3. Sponsor a walk-athon, bowl-athon, read-athon, etc. backed by pledges. Donate to local shelters or animal organizations.
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SENIOR CITIZENS
PET THERAPY
♥ Pet Therapy is a great project for brightening the day of nursing home residents who may not get much company. Set up a visit with your local nursing home and simply take your pets along for the residents to enjoy. It offers them some great company and a cuddly, affectionate cat, dog or other friendly animal to pet.
♥ Intergenerational Idea! PLAY CARDS
Visit a retirement /assisted living home and have senior citizens teach the kids card games! Maybe the children can also teach them a game or two!
♥ Ideas: Black Jack, gin rummy, Hearts, Double Solitaire, Poker, etc. There is a difference in the games that our senior generation has played compared to the youth of today! Our kids can learm marbles, jacks, hop-scotch, cat-in-the cradle, etc...Bringing cookies or some other snack that the kids have made, would be an extra treat to share!
♥ Visit an assisted Living home and play the above card or board games, perform a skit or sing some songs. This can be arranged for an evening or week-end visit.
♥ Explore history and spend time with an assisted facility resident and interview them about how they grew up.
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IDEAS FOR YOUR SCHOOL…
Does your program have a SWAT TEAM?
- SWAT stands for Students Who Assist Teachers. SWAT members help students, staff, and parents before and after school and during special events.
- These students receive training in matters such as courteous greetings, assisting others, and maintaining a safe environment.
- One school (Deer Park Elementary in Texas) believes this is instrumental in helping promote an atmosphere that is orderly and friendly in their school. This is different than the school safety team. SWAT is something your program could provide and then have members offer their services for school functions.
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One program had a service-learning club in an after-school program year with grades K-5...One of the favorite ideas for the younger students was... CUSTODIAN APPRECIATION
They decided that they wanted to thank the custodians, because they saw that they had a "messy" job to clean up the lunchroom everyday, and they thought that was hard work.
♥ They went to see custodians doing their work before and after school — the students had fun looking at the floor polishing machines and the other "tools of the trade" up close, and talked about what they did everyday. - Children talked about all the people who help keep the school "running;"
♥ They took digital photographs of all the custodians, then made thank you posters that were put in the lunchroom and hallways. The students then decided to do the same for the secretary and office staff. First, make appointments with the custodians to learn about them and their jobs.
Adapted from: Nationalserviceresources.org (This is also a great "Building Bridges activity!)
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MISCELLANEOUS IDEAS
Make Warm Scarves: 
This is a craft that requires only the fleece fabric & a good pair of scissors! The pictures are not mine but shows you exactly what I'm talking about.
Our students made warm scarves by buying lengths of micro-fleece and simply cutting them into strips. The end was then cut into fringe. The fleece does NOT unravel so does not need any sewing.
It is available in unlimited colors and prints. All you need is approximately 8 to 10 inches wide by 3-5 feet in length (shorter or longer depending upon your preference). You can knot fringe pieces together, two by two, so that all of the fringes are knotted. If desired, slide beads (as in photo) onto the fringe and tie another knot, for added embellishment. (No name submitted)
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SO EASY! COLLECT PENCILS
- From Pencil Project Website: We are always looking for individuals, families, school, church or community minded groups to get involved. We match you up with a needy school that will benefit directly from the pencils you collect. We generally like to deal with one contact person/coordinator and will be responsible for getting you all the information that you need. You are responsible for setting your own goals and the time frame in which you will complete them.
If you are a school/orphanage in need of pencils, please send us your school name, address, contact person and estimated number of students. We will be happy to connect you with a group that is eager to help you! Click here
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OLD SHOES: Put out notices and containers—and start collecting!!!
Ever thrown out a pair of worn-out athletic shoes? Did you know that IT TAKES ABOUT 1,000 YEARS for those sneakers to biodegrade? Wondering what to do with the ones you've already got? RECYCLE THEM.
Every year, millions of pairs of athletic shoes are thrown away, not only wasting landfill space, but wasting tons of reusable material. Since 1993 Nike has been running a program called Reuse-a-Shoe. So far they've used 24 million pairs of athletic shoes to create sports surfaces. It’s part of the "Let Me Play" campaign, one of Nike’s longest-running environmental and community programs, where worn-out athletic shoes of any brand are collected, processed and recycled into material USED IN SPORT SURFACES like basketball courts, tennis courts, athletic fields, running tracks and playgrounds for young people around the world.
For information visit their website. To keep recycling equipment running smoothly, there are guidelines:
- Athletic shoes only (any brand)
- No shoes containing metal
- No cleats or dress shoes
- No wet or damp shoes
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Remember Service men and women ALL YEAR LONG---not just before the holidays!
There are three pages of suggestions for care packages at the adopt a platoon website.
They are listed by categories of:
- Canned Items
- Condiments
- Ground Coffee / Tea / Hot Chocolate
- Microwavable Foods
- Powdered Drink Mix Singles
- Snacking Foods
- Items for Men
- Items for Women
- Clothing
- Include drawings, cards and wishes...
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TWENTY GRAINS OF RICE-World Food Hunger Program Using the internet children can donate 20 grains of rice to the WORLD FOOD HUNGER PROGRAM! If your program has access to a computer and the Internet, introduce the children to the idea. Click here This Web site offers an English multiple-choice vocabulary test. For each word defined correctly, 20 grains of rice are donated through the United Nations World Food Program to help end hunger.To date--over 66 Billion grains have been donated!!!!
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Each year Oct. 16 is WORLD FOOD DAY: Talk with the children in your program about world hunger and consider hosting a food drive for a food bank in your community. To find a food bank near you, click here. ...It is intended to increase awareness of world hunger and take steps to combat it. However, this can be done any time of the year!
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Establish a length of time for the food drive
and have the youth in your program make posters to hang around program site to promote the food drive.
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Ask parents to get involved by helping transport the food from your site to the food bank.
- If the children enjoy this type of community service, get more ideas from "The Kid's Guide to Service Projects," which features more than 500 ideas for community service activities for young people.
- You can order the book at schoolagenotes.com
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Looking for a fun way to raise money for your favorite charity? Hold a "PIE IN THE FACE" competition ... whatever class raises the most money gets to throw a pie in the face of the principle, teacher, etc.! The kids will love it!
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This is a fun 'Community" idea for the month of April!
'EARTH DAY' GROCERIES PROJECT
Four Simple Steps
1. Borrow. Contact a local grocery store that uses large paper grocery bags. See if the manager will let you "borrow" enough bags so that each student in your school can decorate one. Let the manager know about the project and its environmental education message, of course! Grocers usually get these bags in "bundles" of 500.
2. Decorate. Have students at school decorate the bags with pictures of the earth, environmental messages, the name of your school, etc. Be creative! DO NOT allow students to write their last names on any bags.
3. Deliver. A couple of days before Earth Day you and/or your students return the decorated bags to the grocery store - with many thanks to the manager! The store then distributes these bags (full of groceries) to happy and amazed shoppers on Earth Day.
4. Report. Fill out the Report Form on the project web site with a count of how many bags your school made. Please, only one report per school. All reports will be posted on the Earth Day Groceries site
You do not need to sign up or register, just have a great time with the project! For more information, check the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). Another Idea: If you can't use paper bags, you can have students decorate individual fliers, or even bookmarks, which can be handed out to shoppers or inserted in their shopping bags. These will be counted in the project tally, so do send in your report!
This is a great idea, even if you do it on your own!
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