Community Service – INC Giving Project

Ideas for Families

Find opportunities for your whole family to participate in. Here are some ideas on how your family can participate in the weekend of service. Invite another family to volunteer with you.

Walk around the neighborhood with a garbage bag and pick up trash on the side of the road.
Offer to rake leaves, pickup sticks, or mow the lawn of a neighbor.
Plant flowers for a neighbor or in a communal neighborhood area.
Start a community garden.
Collect and deliver supplies to neighbors who have just had a baby, undergone surgery, or experienced a house fire.
Volunteering can be as simple as making people smile. Have your child draw pictures or write notes to deliver to your neighbors.
Coordinate a collection of used books, clothing, canned food in your neighborhood and donate them to your local school and shelter.
Have your child sort through old toys they don’t play with anymore and donate them
Participate in local events, such as 5Ks, fun runs, or other events that donate proceeds to local charities helping those in need
Volunteer at a local animal shelter

Ideas for Individuals

Look early for opportunities you can volunteer for or organizations looking for volunteers the weekend of April 7 and 8. Make sure to invite a friend or two to volunteer with you.

Search for organizations in your neighborhood and email them to see how you can help.
Donate to a charity or organization that has impacted your life.
Volunteer your expertise and background to a local organization that needs it. For example – if you work in HR volunteer your resume reviewing skills to a shelter offering the service.
Reach out to organizations you’ve worked with in the past and volunteer your time.
Organize a drive for goods or services to donate a local shelter or organization.

Ideas for Your Local Congregation

Volunteers play a huge part in the services organizations are able to provide in your city. Find out how many volunteers are needed and depending on the size of volunteers, you may need to find several opportunities to give everyone a chance to participate.

Here are some ways your local congregation can participate in the weekend of service:

Contact City Officials to see how you can lead/sponsor a Community Clean Up
Find out what city events are happening in your city and if there is a need for volunteers
Spend quality time with residents of elderly community. Activities include
- Singing for A Cause
- Art of Giving Projects
- Gardening or other group volunteering with organizations that deliver food to seniors, running errands, visiting local seniors
Police/Fire Appreciation Days – Visit your local precinct/stations and bring recognition and treats for the services they provide your community
Coordinate a group volunteer opportunity with a local shelter, food banks, etc that is always in need of volunteers
Coordinate with a community center to sponsor “A Help Up” event for low income communities

How One Idea Impacted 200

Rhea Mae Cabardo, a small business owner and INC Giving volunteer from Omaha, Nebraska was sitting at her desk as usual when she felt a strong pull at her heart that she was supposed to do something for the kids at her sister’s school.

How did you get started?

Literally, that moment when I felt that tug, I contacted the school secretary and told her what I was inspired to do. I then drove over to Oriental Trading Company and spoke to the Marketing Manager. I sent them a follow-up email and within days they had sent me boxes to my house with more than 2000 items. I emailed Google and visited local supermarkets and informed them of what I was doing. I contacted the Universities in the area and all of those I had reached out to was more than willing to donate.

I have a small business marketing company and reached out to all the local small business owners and they were ready and willing to sponsor bags. After putting it on Facebook and Instagram, my friends from all over the world inquired and sent money to sponsor bags as well.

What was the reaction from those you contacted?

They were eager and did not hesitate to give what they could after speaking with them. It was so inspiring to see their hearts and love for children.

How did get in contact with the school?

My sister is the counselor and set up a time for me to talk to the school’s principal.

It snowballed into something amazing, in regards to the response from the community at large.

What was your biggest take away…and what would you say to someone thinking about doing something good for a local school?

My biggest take away is, don’t silence the small voice that’s telling you to be of service. Whether it’s to be of service to one person, 2 people or thousands. Sometimes the doubt is louder than that small voice telling you to do it that good thing. For a brief moment, the doubt kept creeping saying, “someone else will do it, who do you think you are, where are you going to get the money to do this.” But I just prayed and was reminded that if God is part of this, everything will fall into place.

So at the end of December, proudly wearing her INC Giving T-shirt, Rhea delivered about 200 bags for the students of Florence Elementary School. When interviewed about what inspired her, Rhea simply said, “that the community cares about them, they’re thought about and they’re love.”

Rhea’s efforts was featured on KMTV News 3, the Point Forward, a local online publication and the Omaha Public School Newsletter.

Rhea Mae Cabardo works is a small business owner based in Omaha, Nebraska. She often helps with the events of the INCGiving Project in her hometown. She is already making plans to do a similar event this year with another local school

INCGiving Kindness Challenge

They say it takes 21 days for something to become a habit, so we’re challenging you to 21 days of kindness. Take a photo, share it online and use #INCGiving. We’ll be featuring some of your posts for inspiration on a future blog and on social media.

Below is a list of 21 different acts of kindness you can take part in. They’re easy. They’re simple. But, most of all, we hope they remind you of how powerful doing good can be.

Say thank you, smile and hand an incmedia.org card to your server, your neighbor, the carpool, anyone really!
Buy someone a cup of coffee or pay for a stranger’s meal.
Write and leave positive sticky notes for your friend, kids, parents, etc.
Show kindness on your commute. Give away your parking spot, give up a seat on the train for someone, and be polite on the road.
Help someone carry his or her shopping bags to the parking lot.
Practice gratitude – compliment a stranger, say thank you to mail carriers, send a “thank you” card/email to a teacher that inspires/inspired you.
Send a card to people who dedicate their lives to helping us – soldiers, police officers, firefighters and teachers to name a few.
Leave quarters at a laundromat or tape some change to a vending machine for someone to use along with an incmedia.org card.
Contact an organization you’ve always wanted to volunteer at to find out how and schedule a time to volunteer.
Be a welcoming neighbor — rake someone’s leaves, offer to clear someone’s driveway during the winter, bring in your neighbor’s trashcans.
Help new (or even not so new) parents – offer to unload their car, cook a meal, pick up groceries, etc.
Leave a nice server the biggest tip you can afford.
Deliver a bouquet of flowers to a nearby nursing home.
Donate a piece of clothing for every new item you bought recently.
Bring doughnuts (or a healthy treat, like cut-up fruit) to share at work or school.
Tweet or Facebook message a genuine compliment to three people right now.
Leave free bus fare for someone or fill up a metro/subway/train card for someone to use.
Offer a homeless person your bag from the restaurant.
Help clear someone’s driveway.
Donate new/used books.
Volunteer – go to a soup kitchen, a shelter, a food bank, etc. and spend a couple of hours volunteering.

How To: Find Your Passion in Volunteering

How To: Find Your Passion in Volunteering

In most, if not all communities, finding volunteer opportunities is easy; but finding the right one for you–that might be a little more challenging…but not impossible!

You may be thinking, “why is it important to find something that is right for me? Isn’t giving and volunteering about doing something for others?” It is; helping others is about the recipient. But imagine how much more help you could be, if you participated in a project or opportunity that you are also passionate about?

Reading, gardening, talking with people, music, sports, etc. – you love these things, so you don’t even think about how much time you spend on them and even try to find more opportunities to do them, right?

Chances are, you can find a perfect match that fits what you’re passionate about. And passionate volunteers are able to contribute even more to the needs of the community, because they’re willing to go the extra mile for whatever cause they’re supporting. It is no wonder most volunteer websites use “interest” as one of their search fields. So let’s try it:

Determine What You’re Interested In.

Do you like books? What about helping read to kids at the local community center? Do you like music and singing? Have you ever thought of volunteering to sing to patients at the local hospital or a retirement home? Or are you an artist who wants to help young people find their passion in art? Try searching for community centers in your city looking for individuals to donate their time to teach your craft.

Determine How Much Time You Can Commit. Are you looking to volunteer once a week, once a month, once a year? There’s an opportunity out there for you.

While many organizations look for 3-6 months of commitment a few hours a month, some may allow you to come in once in a while to volunteer or have one-time event opportunities. There’s even opportunities where you can be an “on-call” volunteer – coming in whenever there is an opportunity that opens up or there’s extra need with the organization.

If you can’t find an opportunity, create one!

Sometimes what we are passionate about doesn’t fit it into the search boxes, but it doesn’t mean we can’t combine our passions with our drive to help others. Here are some individuals who have done just that:

Coreen Joyce Alagar’s 20 for 20 Project

Chance Serrano’s Annual Band Aid Drive

Delmar Antonio’s Sports Equipment for Local Kids

If you need that extra push, below are some helpful volunteer search sites around the world. Don’t see one on the list that you’ve used before? Email news1@incmedia.org, and share what other resources are available in your part of the world.

Australia

Volunteering Australia

Canada

United Kingdom

Pillar Non-Profit Network

Volunteering England