Community Service Project Help?

Question

I want to get involved with a really big community service project. Like coordinate something that would raise money for some important cause or maybe a women's resource center. Basically, I want to do community service that goes beyond just candy striping at a hospital, or tutoring kids, or visiting nursing homes. I do those things too but I would like to do something bigger but have no idea where to start or how to start. If you have any advice please share. I know this is a pretty broad question so any information is fine.

Answer 1

www.thepencilproject.com

Very easy, rewarding, and you are making a huge impact on the needy children of the world by giving them a shot at education.

Answer 2

Have you been to this website?

www.volunteermatch.org

Answer 3

You've got to start by picking a cause that is near to your heart.  

Locally, we've had ones like a girl who heard about a school in a foreign country that had practically no books and the students there learn English, so she started organizing book drives for people to give used books that she could pack and ship to schools that would be delighted to get them.

We have schools that adopt other schools from a much poorer area.  The school collects school supplies, clothing, and other items that the poorer school wants and ships them to the students there.

Or organize people to clean up an area that needs it.  Whether picking up around public streets, or in a nasty, overgrown lot, or helping remove debris from a wooded area that's become a fire hazard, or cleaning up an old overgrown graveyard that people have forgotten about.  Most communities have an area that could use a good cleaning of some sort.

You mention a women's resource center.  Is that like a women's shelter?  We have people in our area who've run drives for women's shelters and homeless shelters where they collect sample-sized items (such as shampoo, soap, toothpaste) and hygiene items that could be of use to them.  Or come up with something else you can collect that could help them.  Or come up with an unusual way to raise funds--such as trying to collect a million pennies, since so many people just toss them without thinking they are worth anything; or challenging different classes to see which one can collect the most for the cause (with perhaps a party for the winning class or some other sort of incentive); or challenging the school to raise $1 for every student there (some won't be able to donate a dollar, but others can donate extra to see if you can raise the equivalent of a dollar a student); or think of something else--if it seems to be different it may get people's attention more.

As to how to start, once you get an idea, you need to plan how it will work and then advertise it.  Make sure that your idea will actually meet the needs of the intended recipients and won't cause problems for them; ask them about it before carrying it out because sometimes good ideas don't work as first envisioned.  Discuss it with your parents, teachers or officials in charge.  

Once you're sure the plan will work, then find a way to advertise it.  See if you can get it announced at school.  Make lots of posters or banners to advertise it and post them around.  Make extras to replace any that get knocked down or ripped up.  Ask your parents to tell their friends about it.  Contact the local newspapers and television stations if you are really ambitious.  Tell everyone you know about it.  

Getting the word out is essential to getting others involved in a big project.  Get it out in a way that makes others see it as a valuable use of their time and energy, help them understand how it will make the world a better place.  And lead by example--don't expect others to do sorts of things that you aren't willing to do yourself; once you get started, people are more likely to want to join in.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Try doing SOMETHING before starting to do THE WORLD'S BEST THING EVER!

Seriously.  Something little is more than what you're doing now.