Volunteering

I think every year's students should have some sort of volunteer activities that they need to do. The service projects would have to include all students in the grade in some way and would focus on leadership, goodwill, community outreach, environmental awareness, and other similar skills and lessons. We'd have to be careful that students could work on these projects throughout much of the year, and it is preferable that students would not have to go off campus many years for their projects. Also, many projects would have to be split into smaller parts on which groups within each year could work. Student council in high school could pick exactly what to do (younger kids' activities are planned), but there would be general outlines for each year, if not all.

For example:

Lower elementary: going to animal shelters to play with/socialize animals, draw cards for hospital patients/military, play/talent show for a nursing home

Upper elementary: feeding/washing/cleaning up after animals, making cards for hospitals/military/school faculty and staff, raising money for a charity, play/talent show for nursing home and one-on-one interaction

Middle school: tutoring elementary kids, food drives/work in food pantry, maintaining school grounds (flower and vegetable gardens, tree nurseries, etc.), community environment/clean-up projects, raising money for a charity, crafts (like blankets) to donate

High school: raising money for a charity, tutoring middle school kids, doing something special for the elementary/pre-K kids) like fun days, volunteer at an animal shelter/nursing home/on-campus day cares/hospitals, environment projects, maintaining school grounds, working with orphanages, letters (to people or answering letters to Santa, letters to government officials)

If necessary, culture class could take some sort of grade for volunteering so that it is mandatory and there is a way to track the volunteering.

There is a website that has great volunteer ideas for people of all ages, even though it's geared toward middle school students:


http://www.thevolunteerfamily.org/be-a-volunteer/volunteering-as-a-group/groups-middle-school-groups/

In case the link doesn't work sometime in the future, here are some of my favorites:

Homeless/Hungry: 

• Conduct a canned food drive
• Collect clothing/hygiene supplies/toys/paper products/blankets to give to a shelter
• Cook casseroles to be served at shelters
• Inspect and sort canned food in a local food pantry
• Make sandwiches and bag lunches for homeless children or a shelter
• Make welcome baskets for new Habitat for Humanity homeowners
• Grow a vegetable garden and donate some of the food to a shelter
• Glean fresh produce for food pantries
• Collect clothing for goodwill
• Conduct toiletry, mitten, or book drives
• Collect art and school supplies for homeless children
• Sponsor a birthday party for a homeless child
• Have a meal or other benefit to raise money for a shelter
• Make fleece tie blankets
• Adopt a family – give gifts anonymously or holiday gifts, have a friendship with them, have barbecues together

Children:

• Make pillows, cards, games, or stuffed toys for children who are sick in the hospital
• Make booboo bunnies for children to receive at a clinic
• Collect items to make baby bags for poor mothers who recently had a baby – may contain diapers, baby bottles, pacifiers, burp rags, formula, baby food, etc.
• Hold a drive to collect sunscreen/flip flops/healthy snacks/school supplies for children
• Hold clothing drives and donate clothes to those in need
• Have a birthday supply drive to give a child in need the party supplies necessary for a birthday party
• Make, buy, or donate toys for children in orphanages or shelters
• Sort through clothing, toys or books others have donated for children in need
• Play basketball or other sports with children in need
• Put together a baby layette for new moms
• Make a first day of school package with school supplies
• Conduct a fundraiser to help send a child to summer camp
• Make care packages (i.e. sunscreen, stationery) for children at camp
• Write letters to or for sick children
• Organize a teddy bear drive
• Draw pictures for Save the Children
• Donate and sort books, clothes and party supplies for disadvantaged children
• Select and wrap gifts for the holidays

Elderly:

• Have a talent show or musical program for residents at a nursing home
• Make emergency storm packs for elderly in times of need
• Organize a Bingo evening or game night
• Organize a barbecue
• Perform seasonal yard work including weeding, mowing lawns, raking leaves, and shoveling snow for nursing homes
• Plant flowers
• Make decorations for rooms – could make flowers out of tissue paper or construction paper to brighten up a room or attach to wheelchairs or beds
• Listen to stories and memories about his/her life
• Label pictures to preserve memories of people and places (using acid-free materials)
• Make cards or write letters for a special older friend
• Play board games with nursing home residents
• Perform a play for residents
• Read a book or the newspaper
• Make lap blankets

Sick or Disabled:

• Help with setup and decorations and/or cleanup of a party
• Put on a special party with a holiday, birthday or other fun theme
• Have a special story time or reading hour
• Tell funny stories
• Help run an event or cheer and support athletes for the Special Olympics
• Help with painting projects and/or horticulture
• Play soccer or other sports with youth who have developmental disabilities
• Grant “wishes” for children who are sick
• Deliver or serve meals to people who are bedridden or their families
• Make food for families with relatives in the hospital
• Put on a concert for people with disabilities

Environment:

• Help clean up shore around lakes, beaches/coasts, river
• Clean up litter on the street or in a park
• Weed in a cemetery or park
• Work on a community garden or farm
• Clear trails
• Start a compost pile
• Participate in a city cleanup in your local area
• Research about specific environmental issues and present for others in a creative, fun, and educational way
• Recycle!
• Plant trees and other native species to preserve natural habitats
• Plant flowers and trees in your yard or (with permission) in other public areas
• Come up with creative craft projects out of re-used materials to combine with other volunteer opportunities (ex. helping children, the elderly, or people with disabilities)
• Make sets for dramatic productions out of cardboard boxes and other re-used items

Animals:

• Help with a yard sale, bake sale, or lemonade stand and donate the money you earn to an animal organization
• Make items, such as magnets, scarves, or other special animal artwork that you can sell, and donate the proceeds to animals in need
• Protect habitats for endangered animals (see also list of suggestions for helping the Environment)
• Have a dog or cat food drive
• Make a birdbath or birdhouse
• Join an activist network
• Walk or run to raise money for animals
• Sponsor a party or festival where friends and the community can learn about animals in need, have fun, and donate money to help them out!
• Adopt an endangered species
• Research and teach others about a local shelter, its needs, and ways people can help!

International/Culture: 

• Crochet bandages for people who have leprosy
• Gather supplies to make and send school kits to children in Iraq
• Sponsor a child living abroad
• Send a child to school in Tanzania