THREE SIMPLE STEPS:

1. Figure out what you want to do to help your community.
2. Make the formal arrangements to get it done.
3. On February 10th announce your plan to the world.

We can’t institute change by just TALKING ABOUT IT. It’s time to start doing.

On MY TURN DAY, update the status on every webpage you have. Twitter it, IM it, send out a mass text to everyone in your contact list. Your message could be as simple as this:

• Working in a Homeless shelter
• Reading a book to others
• Serving at a Soup kitchen
• Painting a house
• Cleaning a park
• Building a playground
• Bringing food to the elderly
• Tamara is reading to the blind every Saturday starting this weekend
• Gary is helping his neighbors paint a disabled man’s home tomorrow

It’s MY TURN to…

• Start reading to the elderly
• pick up trash in a park so kids can play
• serve soup in a soup kitchen
• send gift packages overseas to the soldiers
• organize food donation for the hungry
• give away your lightly used clothes to your local goodwill
• mow someone’s grass
• make your neighbor dinner
• teach English as a second language
• mentor a child through a charitable organization
• volunteer at the SPCA
• paint a house of a disabled person
• shop for groceries for someone
• buy for coffee for the person behind you
• give warm coats to homeless people
• take someone to a doctors appointment.

Contact a major charity organization, local hospital, or food bank near you!

You can find activities to help YOUR community:

/http://www.dosomething.org

http://www.mentornet.net/

http://www.onlinevolunteering.org/en/index.html

http://www.serve.gov/

http://www.volunteermatch.org/

http://www.volunteer.gov/gov/

http://www.idealist.org/if/idealist/en/AdvancedSearch/VolunteerOpportunity/default

http://www.charitynavigator.org

http://slp.kiwanis.org/KKids/home.aspx

KIDS VOLUNTEER IDEAS

http://life.familyeducation.com/slideshow/volunteer-work/29594.html

Help Your Community

•Volunteer at a local museum. If there is a children’s museum close by, older children can donate time decoration, cleaning up, being a helper to younger children, etc. •Sponsor a soldier. Children can create a relationship with a soldier through a national program like Soldiers Angels. They can collect items to send overseas, as well as keep touch through letter writing. •Retirement homes are another opportunity. Whatever a child’s skill is, be it singing or drawing or playing bingo, local residents welcome sunshine from children. •Serve and package meals at a soup kitchen.

Cooking to Better Your Community

Bake cookies for a local fundraiser to support a chosen cause Take meals to a firehouse. Not only will it help remind them of how much they are appreciated, but a free tour might ensue. Bring back the spirit of a close-knit community and welcome any newcomers with a cake or pie. •Leave a special note and treat to say thank you to your mail person. It’ll break up the humdrum of his day.

Collect Books for Others

Make small notebooks and covers and take to the local hospital waiting rooms for waiting children to doodle on. It could be a Godsend for parents, too. •Collect old books and magazines and donate them to a retirement home. •Give a copy of a favorite book to children’s home to spread the joy of reading and adventure.

Animal Lovers Ideas

•Bake or buy dog treats and take them to a local shelter. •Offer time for companionship and cleaning to a humane society. •Pass out informative flyers to pet owners about proper animal caretaking. It could save a pet’s life. •Volunteer at a local wildlife foundation, participating in programs that are personally important. •Pet-sit for neighbors in need. Its fun, rewarding, and teaches great responsibility.