Heading up this club seemed like a daunting task, but I was fortunate to have a committee of 4 -5 other teachers. When we put our heads and experiences together, we came up with quite a few ideas for the club! Some ideas we tabled, some we tried once, and some ideas have become part of our school culture. I hope that you find some ideas that will work for your students or club!
1. Make coloring books with free coloring sheets.
We are a Title I school, so our resources and our students' resources were a bit limited. We did, however, have plenty of copy paper! Each student chose 3 - 5 coloring pages from a website like www.coloringbookfun.com or http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/. We made a cover that said "Free Coloring Book Compliments of ABC Middle School's Community Service Club". We copied the pages front-to-back and had the copy machine staple them with 2 staples on the side. They were delivered to local clinics, waiting rooms, and placed in our office area as well. Simple, free, and customizable!
2. Make dog and cat toys for a pet shelter.
We asked teachers and students to donate old t-shirts, socks, towels, felt, batting, and water bottles. The t-shirts and towels were ripped into strips and braided to make dog pull/ chew toys. The water bottles were inserted into old socks, and some fabric braids were tied on to make a different type of chew toy. For cat toys, we cut out two shapes (such as fish or stars) from the felt. We put a bit of batting between the shapes and did a simple overcast stitch to hold them together. We added jingle bells and piper cleaners that we found in a box of random craft supplies, and voila! There's our cat toys.
3. Make rice heating bags for an assisted living facility.
This project involved a sewing machine as well as some simple stitching. I bought some cheap fabric from Wal-mart and a 50 lb bag of rice. (The fabric should be cotton.) The kids cut out rectangles from the fabric using 8 1/2 x 11 paper as the pattern. Next, they folded the pattern side together and stitched all the way around, leaving about 1 inch unstitched. The next step is to turn the rectangle back to right-side out. Fill the rectangle with rice. Close up the hole using a simple overcast stitch or running stitch. The kids loved learning how to use a sewing machine, and since they were only stitching straight lines, they couldn't easily mess that up. We made a note telling the gift recipients to microwave for 30 seconds on high power to use, and secured the note to the heating bag with a rubber band. They were very well-received and as we delivered them, it was neat to watch the tweens connect with the elderly.
4. Collect pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House.
We collaborated with our AVID classes to make the pop tab collection a school-wide competition between teams. The AVID classes decorated a bucket for each team, and collected and weighed the pop tabs 2 - 3 times over the fall semester. In December, the winning team got to present the pop tabs to a representative of the Ronald McDonald House. One year, the winning team also got to play Warball against the teachers during homeroom. Kids really love that! The great thing about this service project is that everyone can participate- even students who don't drink pop can find pop tabs lying around. Now each fall, the students look forward to this competition and come in with bags of pop tabs they saved over the spring and summer.
5. Collect used cards to send to the St. Jude's Ranch.
Students can make signs or posters announcing that they are collecting used cards for the St. Jude's Ranch charity, which reaches out to abused, neglected, and abandoned children. Once the cards are collected, the students have to cut off the front of the card and make sure there is no writing on the back. Send the cards to St. Jude's Ranch, where they will create new cards from the old ones and sell them as a fundraiser. For more information, visit their website at: https://stjudesranch.org/about-us/recycled-card-program/.
Other ideas:
- Record children's books being read and post on youtube, then let local elementary teachers know about the videos. (Check with your administrator about permissions needed.)
- Collect box tops or Campbells Soup labels.
- Make cookies and thank-you cards for a local firehouse or police station. (We used the ready-made cookie dough!)
- Have a penny drive for a charity.
- Collect aluminum cans and send the money to a charity called "Kubi for Hope," which benefits villages of South Sudan and Uganda. (Visit http://kubiforhope.org for more information.)
- Adopt a nearby highway or city road. Be prepared to clean four times a year, and get a cool sign saying you've adopted that stretch of road! Check with you city or state department of transportation for more information. EX: http://www.modot.org/kansascity/programs/adoptahighway.htm
- Students can design a "New Kid on the Block" informational book to get to new students who enroll throughout the year. Along the same lines, they could make welcome bags with pens, pencils, a school map, hand sanitizer, etc.
- Design thank-you cards to copy on colored paper or cardstock and give them to teachers during teacher appreciation week, or to nurses on Nurses Appreciation Day, etc.
- Make "Take a compliment" signs to post around the school. (see http://teenbeing.com/bullying/october-national-bullying-prevention-month/)
- Collect old keys to send to Keys for Hope. (http://keyforhope.org) Choose a local charity to benefit from the money raised.
For other ideas, check out my Pinterest board dedicated to community service projects for middle schoolers: https://www.pinterest.com/kaichar/community-service-projects/
What ideas have you done with your students or club? Leave a comment to share an idea! Thanks!
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