What about Service Projects?
Service projects build bridges into the heart of our communities. Service projects involve meeting a specific need of an organization, or a community. Our good deeds create goodwill which builds bridges of influence and connection. Service projects often involve cleaning, landscaping, painting, renewing, building, giving, volunteering and serving.
- School Clean Up Inside And Outside
- Painting / Fixing School Playground Equipment
- Volunteer As School Mentors, Hall Monitors, Story Tellers, Book Readers, Team Sports Coaches / Helpers
- Providing School Supplies And Backpacks
- Adopting Families At Christmas For Clothing And Gifts From List, Family Given By School Counselor
- Teacher Appreciation Breakfast On Staff Training Day
- City Park Clean Up
- Serving At A Food Pantry
- Serving At A Homeless Shelter
- Painting Homes For People In Need\
- Painting Playground Equipment At Low-Income Apartments
- Throw A Party At An Apartment Complex Bouncies, Food, Games, Crafts, Face Painting, Prizes
- Trash And Litter Clean Up In Known Trashed Areas
- Providing Shoes And Socks For Kids In Need
- Washing Windows / Cleaning Parking Lots Of Businesses
- Toilet / Restroom Cleaning
- Mowing Grass For People Who Cannot
- Hospital Greeters, Hospital Chaplin Helpers, Visit Emergency Rooms With Small Gifts: Water, Coffee, Donuts, Small Packs Of Tissues…
- Host Large Community Events: Community Easter Egg Hunts, Creating a Safe Place For Families On Halloween With Games, Food, Crafts and Fun
- Free Car Washes (one dollar car washes, the person receives a dollar at the end of the car wash)
Every service project will need planning steps and implementing. Key people will need to be contacted, meetings arranged, permission given and a process put into place. Simply being with the end in mind. Form a team, and plan the steps similar to the steps in the first section.
Hot Tips: Go to the community chamber of commerce speak to the Mayor or the person who is responsible for community service. The aim is to discover what needs they have and how you can help meet their needs. The same is true for reaching hospitals, schools, health agencies, homeless shelters, food pantries, etc.
We went to a large elementary school and asked, “What is your greatest need?” The answer, “Please help us re-paint the school bus arrival and departure letters in the parking lot for our bus pick up drop off area.” The school is one of the largest elementary schools In Ohio. It has seventeen hundred children attending, mainly bussed to the school. We complied and painted the parking lot with matching A through Z letters. We also cleaned the playground, put up new basketball nets, mulched the playground area, and painted the playground equipment.
This small task brought order back into the chaos and helped the kids feel better about their playground. We were also asked to remove the bushes from around the building. We removed six dump truck loads of bushes. The school looked better and the trash problem in the bushes fixed. Doing what we were asked to do with excellence opened other kindness opportunities within the school system.
Endnotes:
- Begin where you are with what you have.
- Develop a plan.
- Be determined and intentional.
- Go.
- Tell stories. Stories create inspirational momentum.
- Seek to develop acts of kindness and good deeds as a lifestyle.
- Don’t quit.
- Have fun!
For help and coaching contact: info@kindnessoutreach.com
