HandsOn Network

Ideas and Activities for Everyone

16. Go Green
    Design a waste reduction plan for your family, house, or class, with practices such as using the backs of paper, repairing leaky faucets, and turning out lights when they are not needed or check out 50 things kids can do to save the earth.

17. Volunteer at the Food Bank
    Contact your local food bank or food pantry and offer to sort and package food for families in need.

18. Invest Time at your Local Shelter
    Work with homeless shelters by cooking for residents, cleaning neglected areas, and collecting much needed supplies such as clothes, food, and office materials.

19. Create a Birthday Party with a Purpose.
    Throw a birthday party to celebrate a memorable icon or local hero. Check out Quaker’s ‘Birthday Party with a Purpose’ for free materials and ideas on how to design the day.
    www.QuakerKidsDoingGood.com

20. Create a Wall of Dreams
    Read a famous speech with community members or school children. Invite your group to take excerpts from the speech and illustrate it on a mural or picture. The group can also make a mural about their own dreams about peace in their school, community, country or the world. http://www.kidscare.org

21. Engage in Conversation
    Engage youth volunteers in intergenerational conversations with seniors as they recognize the seniors’ extraordinary lives and work together to create hope flags to illustrate their wishes for the world.

22. Food for Thought
    Have a bake sale and donate the money to a charity or organization.

23. Fundraise
    Organize a concert or play as a fundraiser for local shelters and agencies that work with the disadvantaged.

24. Expand Your Marketing Skills
    Design an ad campaign to get local businesses and individuals to donate time or money to a shelter.

25. Design a Welcome to the Neighborhood Program
    Make “New Kids on the Block” survival kits for new kids in the neighborhood or school. Include items like a welcome card, school calendar, cool places to go, etc

26. Lead a Discussion on Nonviolence and Immigration
    Lead a workshop titled, “Immigration Today.” Leaders of immigrant rights will lead a discussion on political asylum and refugee status, and how Dr. King’s principles of combating injustice through nonviolence still applies today.

27. Build a Playground
    Volunteer to build playgrounds for schools and communities.
    www.kaboom.org

28. Bridge the Digital Divide
    Design a charitable “technology” day where computer savvy youth and adults share their expertise with the elderly, kids, and people new to computers or other useful forms of technology. It can be coupled with a “Computer Drive” in which old and used computers are donated at a central location and distributed to those unable to afford them.

29. Foster Discussion About the Civil Rights Era
    Partner with a local high school. Have high school students visit a local senior citizen center. Students will interview seniors on their experience during the Civil Rights Era. The stories can be compiled in a pamphlet for community schools.

30. Create a Cleaner and Safer Community
    Assign teams of students to one square mile of their community. Each team is responsible for coming up with and implementing ideas for beautifying their assigned neighborhood (through picking up trash, removing graffiti, etc.), identifying safety hazards, and delivering public safety messages through interactions with community residents.

31. Create Library Makeovers
    Transform a school library into a vibrant, warm and welcoming place where students can get excited about reading and encounter new stories, ideas and people.

32. Provide College Preparation for Teens
    Encourage high school seniors to mentor younger teens on how to prepare for college, such as selecting courses and making themselves good candidates for admission.

33. Host a Read-a-thon or Writing Contest
    Organize a read-a-thon, writing contest or other academic contest or campaign at your school to promote development of academic skills. Utilize the books listed in the resource section as possible options, or utilize Civil Rights quotes as themes for writing contest.

34. Organize a Book Drive
    Hold a book drive at your school and donate the proceeds to a children’s shelter or ask your local YMCA/church/fire department to donate books that can be used to fill the school library. www.firstbook.org.
    

35. Volunteer Your School
    Organize a conference at your school to raise awareness of the unmet needs of youth in the community and of the many ways students can get involved. Provide volunteer resources for students and have sign-ups for upcoming projects and initiatives.

36. Create Social Justice 365
    Work with students to create informational boards/bulletins on how to practice social justice all year long.

37. Host a Poetry Slam
    Partner with the local library or Starbucks coffee shop and have a youth poetry slam where kids are invited to share their writing and reflections.

38. Stimulate through Art
    Give low-income preschoolers a head start by creating felt boards that stimulate curiosity, creativity and learning about the world around them.

39. Transform a School
    Clean and restore school grounds, both internal (clean counters and walls, paint) and external (clean outside trash, fix fences and playgrounds, etc.).

40. Revitalize a Neighborhood
    Renovate a low-income neighborhood with painting and repairs. Ask elderly, low income or disabled residents how you can improve the quality of living at home.

41. Writing with Hospital Children
    Visit a children’s hospital and with the children write a mini-book.

42. Get Outdoors!
    Gather a group of friends or colleagues and refurbish or create nature trails. Learn about the local plants and wildlife. Learn to identify invasive plant species and assist with removing them during invasive plant removal activities.

43. Plant Flowers for Seniors
    Visit a senior facility and build window flower boxes. Ask them about their favorite flower and offer to plant for them.

44. Watch a Movie and Reflect
    Encourage adult participants (17and up) view the movie Sankofa (or another relevant movie) and have a reflection session on combating injustice and how the past may be repeated without conscious community unity and reflection.

45. Create a More Livable Neighborhood
    Work with your neighbors to make your neighborhood more livable for all the residents. Give the neighbors and members of your faith community a list of ways to make easy, low-cost changes to at home. Learn more

46. Assist in Job Placement
    Offer to provide job searching skills to those who are unemployed. You can assist with researching opportunities, building a resume or writing a cover letter.
    Learn more

47. Create Healthy Living
    Help the elderly in your neighborhood to live healthier lifestyles. Research and share ways to eat better, exercise, and take care of mind, body, and soul. Learn more

48. Care for the Caregivers
    Identify a caregiver you know and offer to lend a hand. You can make a big difference by giving that selfless caregiver some time for self care. Learn more

49. Do It Yourself Shoe Recycling Program
    Concerned about the environment and committed to making a difference? Recycling your athletic shoes with Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe is a simple way to start – no matter what brand – you can drop it off at a location near you. www.nikereuseashoe.com