Williamson County, Texas

General Ideas

• Organize a community blood drive

https://weareblood.org/ways-to-help/host-a-blood-drive/

• Send cards to soldiers serving overseas

http://www.operationwearehere.com/IdeasforSoldiersCardsLetters.html

• Read books or letters to a person who is visually impaired

https://www.voices.com/blog/volunteer_reading_for_the_blind/

• Collect unused makeup and perfume to donate to a center for abused women

https://www.hopealliancetx.org/

• Organize and hold a bake sale for your favorite charity

Helping Children and Schools

• Tutor children during or after school

www.literacycouncil-wc.org

• Donate stuffed animals to children in hospitals
• Organize games and activities for children in hospitals or who are visiting hospitalized relatives

https://supportseton.org/volunteer/

• Knit or crochet baby blankets to be donated to hospitals or homeless shelters

https://www.babyblanketcentral.com/donate-baby-blankets.html

• Collect clothes and supplies to donate to foster parents

https://www.carryinghope.com/about

• Collect used sports equipment to donate to families and after-school programs
• Volunteer at a summer camp for children
• Give free music lessons to schoolchildren
• Become a volunteer teen crisis counselor

https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/opp2427690.jsp

• Organize a summer reading program to encourage kids to read
• Babysit children during a PTA meeting

https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/babysitting/babysitting-child-care-training/babysitting-classes

• Organize a reading hour for children at a local school or library
• Donate used children’s books to a school library
• Volunteer to help with Vacation Bible School or other religious camps

Helping Senior Citizens

www.ageofcentraltx.org

http://www.owbc-tx.org/volunteer/

• Read to residents at a nursing home
• Deliver groceries and meals to elderly neighbors
• Teach computer skills to the elderly
• Drive seniors to doctor appointments
• Mow an elderly neighbor’s lawn
• Host a bingo night for nursing home residents
• Host a holiday meal for senior citizens
• Make birthday cards for the elderly
• Ask residents of a retirement home to tell you about their lives
• Pick up medicine for an elderly neighbor
• Perform a concert or play at a senior center
• Help elderly neighbors clean their homes and organize their belongings
• Rake leaves, shovel snow, or wash windows for a senior citizen
• Deliver cookies to a homebound senior citizen

Helping Animals and the Environment

• Take care of cats and dogs at an animal shelter

http://pets.wilco.org/

• Start a butterfly garden in your community

https://www.thebutterflysite.com/butterfly-garden.html

• Sponsor a recycling contest
• Help create a new walking trail at a nature center or park
• Update the signs along a nature trail

https://www.wilco.org/Departments/Parks-Recreation/Volunteers

• Help raise money to train service dogs

https://www.texvet.org/service-animal

• Participate in the cleanup of a local river, pond, or lake
• Foster animals that shelters don’t have space for

https://www.austinpetsalive.org/

• Organize a spay and neuter your pet program

https://emancipet.org/mobile/

• Campaign for more bike lanes in your town
• Volunteer at a nature camp and teach kids about the environment

Helping the Hungry and/or Homeless

• Build a house with Habitat for Humanity

https://www.austinhabitat.org/

• Donate old eyeglasses to an organization that collects that and distributes them to people in need

http://e-clubhouse.org/sites/taylortx/projects.php

• Donate non-perishable food to a food bank

https://www.rrasc.org/

• Donate blankets to a homeless shelter
• Make “care kits” with shampoo, toothbrushes, combs, etc. to donate to homeless shelters
• Prepare a home-cooked meal for the residents of a nearby homeless shelter
• Help repair or paint a local homeless shelter
• Donate art supplies to kids in a homeless shelter
• Help organize and sort donations at a homeless shelter
• Babysit children while their parents look for jobs
• Become a Big Buddy for children at a homeless shelter
• Take homeless children on outings
• Bake a batch of cookies or loaf of bread and deliver it to a soup kitchen
• Build flower boxes for Habitat for Humanity houses
• Organize a winter clothes drive to collect coats, hats, scarves, and gloves to be donated
• Make first aid kits for homeless shelters 

https://www.centraltexashomeless.org/

Reducing Crime and Promoting Safety

• Volunteer at a police station or firehouse

https://www.ci.taylor.tx.us/933/Become-a-Volunteer

• Become a certified lifeguard and volunteer at a local pool or beach

https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/lifeguarding?latitude=30.633&longitude=-97.6707

• Paint over graffiti in your neighborhood
• Organize a self-defense workshop
• Organize a drug-free campaign
• Create a TV or radio public service announcement against drug and alcohol use

Promoting Community Enhancement

• Paint park benches

https://www.wilco.org/Departments/Parks-Recreation/Volunteer

• Donate used books to your local library

https://www.ci.taylor.tx.us/25/Library

https://www.roundrocktexas.gov/departments/library/

http://www.huttotx.gov/departments/library/index.php

• Become a tour guide at your local museum

http://williamsonmuseum.org/

• Repaint community fences
• Plant flowers in bare public areas
• Organize a campaign to raise money to buy and install new playground equipment for a park

https://www.fundraising.com/

• Clean up vacant lot
• Produce a neighborhood newspaper

https://www.makemynewspaper.com/starting-a-small-town-community-newspape

• Create a newcomers group in your neighborhood to help welcome new families
• Volunteer to clean up trash at a community event
• Adopt a local highway or road and clean up trash along it

https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/get-involved/volunteer/adopt-a-highway.html

• Help fix or raise funds to repair a run-down playground
• Clean up after a natural disaster
• Volunteer on a city board

http://www.huttotx.gov/government/boards_and_commissions/index.php

https://www.ci.taylor.tx.us/813/Boards-Commissions