People are always asking what they can do for their Community Service hours to complete high school and how they can help around the county. Well, have no fear community service is here!

Community service is a powerful help to everybody and anybody, to an individual, a group or to the community as a whole. When you participate in community service you are helping many groups of people such as children, senior citizens, people with disabilities and even animals and the environment. There are unlimited activities and services you can involve yourself in to provide this. Community service is at play anywhere around the world when people work to provide a service that can be of benefit to others in their community. When you do community service you do not get paid, but you do volunteer your time and work to help others. Fun Fact: you can even create your own community service group.

There are many other ways to participate in community service then just picking up trash. Some general ideas are such things as donating and raising money, holding a bake sale, participating in a charity race, helping register people to vote, organize a car wash, or even helping at a hospital or nursing home. Simple things like these could change your life and someone else’s forever. We never know what someone is going through or what they have been through and doing a small act of kindness or assistance  could make someone’s day. Here are some more ways we can provide a community service for people:

Helping Children and Schools:

-tutor children after or during school

-donate old or new stuffed animals to places like St. Jude’s

-organize games or activities

-coach a youth sports team

-put on a performance

-organize an easter egg hunt

-create a new game

-donate books to a library

Helping Senior Citizens:

-read to residents at a nursing home

-deliver groceries and meals to elderly neighbors

-drive seniors to doctor appointments

-mow an older person’s lawn

-host a bingo night

-host a holiday meal

-make birthday cards

-help elderly neighbors clean their homes and living spaces

Helping Animals and their Environments:

-take care of animals at an animal shelter

-clean up a local park

-help train service dogs

-sponsor a recycling contest

-sponsor an animal at a local zoo

-adopt an acre of a rainforest

-build and set up a bird house

-volunteer at a nature camp and help children learn about nature and its importance

If you would like to participate in one of these items above or any community service at all, please consider the following steps to join:

1) Look over your interests: What appeals the most to you? If so, that is a good place to start out.

2) Figure out how much time you can devote to community service: Are you available to work a certain number of hours a certain number of days a week? Before you join make sure to check your calendar, your school schedule, and your work schedule. Think about transportation as well – can you drive yourself or do you need a ride?

3) Do some research to see what projects there are in your community: Lucky for you if you are reading this article, you have some ideas, but you do not have to limit yourself to these in this article. Look up opportunities where you live and see what you can do to help.

4) START VOLUNTEERING!!  …now it is time to do your part.