Many schools, synagogues and churches often have an entire day, at least once a year, devoted to community service. Here are some ways that your group can give back to your own community.

Alex’s Lemonade Stand

Your group can host a stand to help cure pediatric cancer! All you need is one person, some cookies or other treats and lemonade and you are in the business of curing cancer! We can provide all of the information you need for this fun and easy project.

Animals

• Volunteer your time and love to help care animals in local shelters.
• Dog toys — We provide simple instructions so you can make toys for dogs and donate them to the SPCA or another animal shelter in your area. These toys are easy to make and they are fun.
  • Fleece Dog Toys
  • Rope Dog Toys
• Cat Toys — We provide instructions for toys with cat nip inside (requires sewing).
• Pet Therapy Dogs — Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities have residents who will be delighted to see your pet! Many facilities have short training sessions for you and your pet to get you started.

Baby Shower

Teen mothers and Grandmothers are raising children in every community. Place a crib or pack–n–play in the lobby of your church, synagogue or school. Ask participants to donate new baby gear and watch the crib fill up with everything from diapers to baby clothes! We can help you find a place to donate the wonderful items you collect.

Bagged Breakfasts and Lunches

Your group can make breakfast or lunch for a person who is homeless in about 5 minutes! These same bagged breakfasts and lunches can be provided to parents at area Ronald McDonald Houses. It is costly to have to eat out three meals every day when you have a chronically ill child receiving medical treatment. A bagged meal can be taken to any procedure and eaten on the run.

Birthday Parties

Your Mitzvah Circle Birthday Party — a party that makes a difference. We provide a birthday kit that you can share with your guests. You host a party and donate gifts to Mitzvah Circle Foundation. We send these gifts directly to people with serious illness or living in poverty. You will be surprised how much joy this brings to both the donors and the recipients.

Blanket Making

No sew fleece blankets are an easy relaxing activity that can benefit a wide variety of recipients. We provide the instructions. We can also suggest where these wonderful warm blankets are needed. Save the scraps and we can tell you how a school for the blind used all of our extra pieces of fleece!

Blood Drive

Did you know that one donation of blood can help save up to five patients' lives and that One out of every three people will need to use donated blood in their lifetime? Let Mitzvah Circle and the American Red Cross help you to coordinate a blood drive. Every pint counts.

Board Game Collection

We have been collecting gently used board games for ten years! Children in after school day care programs at community centers are delighted to play board games after school. Many children, especially those in inner cities, no longer play board games. This is an unfortunate finding, as board games teach children about following rules, being fair, and learning about conflict resolution.

Books

Your group can collect gently used or new books in your school or neighborhood. Many children’s hospitals, schools and after school programs are in need of these items and welcome your contribution.

Camp Collection

Many kids get camp scholarships but do not have the supplies to attend and fully participate in all of the activities offered. Host a summer camp collection asking others to donate towels, flip flops, water shoes, camp bags, water bottles and anything else you can think of. We will help you find the recipients!

Cemetery Beautification

Is there a cemetery in your neighborhood that looks neglected? Most synagogues and churches have cemeteries that could use a little extra care. Cemetery clean up at holidays, or the placement of flags for Memorial Day can be a meaningful experience.

Classroom Beautification

Sometimes the classrooms in our schools and religious schools need a fresh coat of paint. Groups can paint a room in no time! Experienced, creative volunteers have made beautiful murals, lining the walls of classrooms that inspire learning in children. It is easier than you think!

Cooking

Cooking is a wonderful intergenerational, community building activity. There are many simple but delicious meals that can be prepared when cooking with a group or alone. Meals can be delivered immediately or frozen to be donated at a later date. Families in need, Food Banks and shelters will be delighted to sample your delicious cooking.

Craft Projects

There are dozens of craft projects that can warm the hearts of young and old alike. If you are someone who likes to crochet or knit, gloves, scarves and afghans are always needed by our youngest babies and the most vulnerable senior citizens. Tzedakah Boxes, pot holders, refrigerator magnets, picture frames and door decorations, are just a few of the projects that can be distributed and enjoyed by a wide variety of recipients.

DVD Collection

Many hospitals and Neighborhood Centers have DVD players for the purpose of entertaining and education. However, most are very limited in their selection. Many people right in our own back yard have DVDs that they no longer watch or that their children have outgrown. Collect some DVDs and donate them! This is an easy way to brighten someone’s day!

Food Baskets

There is nothing nicer than a holiday food basket for a family in need. These baskets can be created and distributed through out the year. Your group can collect items for one basket or a dozen baskets that will provide families in need with a meaningful holiday experience.!

Food Drive

Food Bank usage is on the rise across our country. Food Banks need donations of non-perishable items not just at holiday time, but all year long. We can provide creative ideas about how to run a food drive as well as recipients in your area that may benefit from your collection! !

Homeless

There are so many items that can be created and collected for homeless shelters. Did you know that homeless shelters are in need of warm socks all winter long? What would happen if every person we know provided five pairs of warm socks to an area shelter? There would be many fewer homeless people freezing on our streets this winter.

• Hats & Gloves are needed! (See winter glove collection.)
• No Sew Fleece Blankets (Please see Blanket Making.)

Home Repairs

There are so many small ways that make a big difference in the lives of older people. Changing light bulbs, installing grab bars in bathrooms, shoveling snow and other small home repairs are great projects for Boy Scouts and other groups.

Jared Boxes

We have created hundreds of Jared Boxes for chronically ill children. A Jared Box is a plastic shoe box which contains hand held toys, games and craft supplies for children receiving chemotherapy or other medical treatments. This individualized box stays at the hospital so that each child has something special to play with during this difficult time. Collecting the items for Jared Boxes is easy and rewarding!

Knitting Projects

Knitting and crocheting are wonderful hobbies enjoyed by young and old alike. At Mitzvah Circle our yarn-crafters are a multigenerational group who live in different cities and take on many different projects.

Hats 4 Homeless is just one of our knitting projects where volunteers create hats, gloves and mittens for recipients who live in shelters or on the streets in cities across our country. We also encourage knitting and crocheting for babies and young children in our Knit 4 Kids program so that all babies and young children can have a new clean hat or a blanket to keep them warm. There are kids in communities, schools and daycare centers who are in desperate need of these items.

Lids for Kids

Collect new hats at your school, synagogue, church or in your neighborhood. These can be donated to local pediatric cancer centers for kids with cancer.

Planting

If you have a green thumb and enjoy gardening your skills are needed! Nursing homes, assisted living residences, synagogues, churches and schools all can benefit from a beautification project. Flowers and plants can make the world look brighter!

Playground Beautification

There are playgrounds that are old and run down that would look completely different with a fresh coat of paint. If you have a beautiful day and group who enjoys cleaning up and painting, this project is for you!

Projects Related to Nature

There are wonderful projects related to conservation and preservation. The EPA has a program where individuals and groups can adopt a watershed along side local community based projects that work to clean up local streams and monitor the water.

Recycling

You may also want to increase the recycling system in your school, church, or synagogue.

Ronald McDonald House

Ronald McDonald Houses provide support to families with seriously ill children. Your group can help in many ways, from volunteering your time to collecting necessary supplies for residents.

Ronald McDonald Family Rooms

Ronald McDonald family rooms are usually found in pediatric floors of major medical centers or at children’s hospitals. These rooms provide a brightly colored, innovative, respite center for parents. Your group can cook a meal and come to a Family Room and serve dinner to parents. Our bagged breakfasts, lunches and snack bags are a tremendous help for families. It is costly to have to eat out three meals every day when you have a chronically ill child receiving medical treatment. A bagged meal can be taken to any procedure and eaten on the run.

Sports Equipment

If everyone cleaned out their garage and basement there would be a lot of extra used sports equipment! There are children who are not able to play sports because they do not have the necessary equipment. There are neighborhood community centers that have basketball courts and no basketballs. You can collect used or new sports equipment and bring the thrill of team sports to other kids who may not otherwise have the opportunity to play.

Tote Bags

Tote bags are useful and when you design your own tote bag, it adds a personal touch. Senior citizens and people in the hospital will use and enjoy a bag that you have decorated. You and your group can decorate canvas tote bags and fill them with home-baked cookies and other delicious snacks, for a special treat. You can also fill the tote bags with toiletry and other needed items. This project is fun and easy for the young and old alike!

Turkey Collection

Your group can collect turkeys to brighten Thanksgiving or any other major holiday for families in need. We all treasure our holiday meals each year and the joy that it gives us to sit down for a delicious dinner with people who are important to us. However, Thanksgiving dinner can be expensive and there are members of our community who are not able to have these experiences. You can change this. Through the kindness of your community, families in your area can have the experience of a full meal at their holiday table. Your group may also want to collect grocery gift cards so that families can shop for their own side dishes. This is a meaningful project and your group can make this possible.

Visit seniors in Nursing Facilities

Bring light into the lives of older people who may not get many visitors as you visit area nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Winter Hat and Glove Collection

There are outreach workers who distribute hats and gloves in the winter months to homeless people living on the streets. Every winter Mitzvah Circle Foundation collects hundreds of pairs of gloves and warm hats and delivers them to outreach workers and homeless shelters. A pair of gloves on a winter’s night can change a life.

Words of Hope

Create a scrap book for chronically ill children filled with drawings and words of encouragement. You can make this yourself, with a friend or even a small group or class. This is certain to lift the spirits of children and their families.

Volunteer!