As you continue to grow professionally and personally, you will start to realize the importance of giving back to the community where you live and where you come from. Giving back does not have to
be a long labor intensive project, but every little bit helps and counts.  There are offices on campus dedicated to community service and leadership enrichment. In addition, clubs and organizations tend to do an annual community service event each year.  Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands and do what you can to give back. Below are 75 Ways to get involved and give back to the campus and surrounding community.

  1. Set up a Help-O-Meter to keep track of the number of hours you volunteer and try to beat your previous number each year.
  2. Organize or volunteer to help at a recognition program for students on campus who participated in community service projects throughout the year.
  3. Volunteer in an office on campus.
  4. Write letters to soldiers.
  5. Make birthday cards for the elderly.
  6. Run or walk in a charity race with friends.
  7. Practice random acts of kindness.
  8. Train for a marathon to raise money for a cause.
  9. Volunteer your talents at a charity auction.
  10. Recognize veterans on campus.
  11. Do something  nice for someone anonymously.
  12. On Thanksgiving, adopt a family for dinner.
  13. Trim Christmas tree with gift ideas for local kids and have people on campus pull from the tree and purchase gifts.
  14. Organize a coat drive.
  15. Organize a shoe drive for Soles to Souls.
  16. Organize safe trick-or-treating on campus for local kids.
  17. Conduct an Easter Egg Hunt for needy children.
  18. Make homemade cards for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Grandparents Day.
  19. Volunteer at the local YMCA, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, or Boys and Girls Club.
  20. Surprise your parent(s), neighbors, or friends and offer to babysit.
  21. Start a program for students on campus that may need help with food or clothes.
  22. Sponsor a concert in the park; proceeds go to local music charity or program for young children.
  23. Help organize a drive to help meet the basic needs of those oversees. Water, feminine hygiene products, etc.
  24. Organize a volunteer-a-thon against each residence hall; see which hall can volunteer the most hours in a month.
  25. Create a “Give Back” day on campus.
  26. Find a new nonprofit organization and volunteer to help them as they grow and expand.
  27. Adopt an elderly person. Visit them, go for walks, help them with chores around the house.
  28. Read a book during story time at a local daycare.
  29. Cheer up a sick friend with soup.
  30. Call an old friend.
  31. Instead of birthday gifts ask family and friends to make donations to a charity.
  32. Make get well cards for people in hospitals.
  33. Become pen pals with younger students and tell them dos and don’ts for college.
  34. Collect old magazines and donate them to schools or daycare.
  35. Plant a tree.
  36. Start a community garden.
  37. Clean a highway.
  38. Collect unused make-up, perfume and toiletries for battered women in a shelter.
  39. Collect prom dresses for girls in need.
  40. Donate old eyeglasses to an organization.
  41. Collect costumes and donate them for a dress-up at an after school program.
  42. Make emergency kits for departments and students on campus.
  43. Have offices compete against each other to collect money for a good cause.
  44. If you’re good at fixing bikes, volunteer to teach others how to fix their bikes.
  45. Conduct bike safety checks for your neighborhood.
  46. Sponsor an alcohol free homecoming event.
  47. Organize an alcohol free “weekend” pledge campaign on campus. I.e. Homecoming, welcome week, etc.
  48. Recruit people to help paint a mural.
  49. Set up a buddy system for freshmen and seniors in the same major.
  50. Start an anti-smoking campaign to make your campus smoke free.
  51. Make new freshman survival kits for orientation.
  52. At the end of the school year, collect school supplies and start a back to school drive for local kids.
  53. Volunteer for hall council or student government.
  54. Have a party or dance and make a canned good the price for admission.
  55. Recognize outstanding professors and professional staff on campus.
  56. Go door to door in the residence halls and encourage students to register to vote.
  57. Volunteer at a local candidate’s campaign office.
  58. Volunteer at a local homeless shelter.
  59. Donate art supplies to kids at a summer camp.
  60. Make a care package for soldiers.
  61. Clip coupons, become an Extreme Couponer and donate the food to a local homeless shelter.
  62. Sponsor a food drive on campus during Thanksgiving.
  63. Prepare a home-cooked meal for the international students on campus.
  64. Bake cookies for your RA, the custodial staff and maintenance.
  65. Join the local Habitat for Humanity.
  66. Volunteer at an animal shelter. Walk dogs, play with kittens, and feed the animals.
  67. Organize an adopt-a-pet program.
  68. Rake leaves, shovel snow, clean gutters or wash windows for a senior citizen.
  69. Visit a nursing home and teach seniors how to use the internet.
  70. Set up a recycling system for your residence hall.
  71. Clean a local park.
  72. Pick up litter across campus.
  73. Volunteer to clean up the stadium/gymnasium after a home game.
  74. Work to make the campus more ecofriendly.
  75. Challenge each graduating class to donate something to the college to make it better for the next class.

This is something I used to do with my freshmen peer students in their first year seminar. I created a scavenger hunt list and asked them to go around and take a picture of a member of their team in front of/with/at the location or person. For each type of picture there were a certain amount of points available. The team with the most points would win a prize.

Take this idea and adapt it to your experience. Even if there isn’t a prize being awarded, think about all the memories you’ll have to look back on.

So take a picture. It really is worth a thousand words.