5 Community Service Ideas for Social Work Majors

5-community-service-ideas-for-social-work-majorsIf you are a social work major, you understand the importance of community service as part of your college education. In addition, participating in or organizing community service projects is an ideal way to gain social work experience. Consider these five community service ideas to get your creative juices flowing to make the world a better place.

1. Help the Homeless

There are several ways you can help those who are unemployed, struggling financially or homeless. To start, you can volunteer to feed the homeless at your local food pantry, food bank or soup kitchen. You can also make helpful hygiene kits from travel-sized items to donate to homeless shelters. When winter approaches, you can coordinate blanket or coat drives in your community. If you are unsure where to start, approach homeless shelters, food banks or churches to see where they need additional assistance the most.

2. Clean the Environment

If you are concerned about the environment, you can coordinate several types of environmentally-friendly community service projects. Depending on where you are attending college, you can organize a beach or park cleanup day, recycling drives or a river cleanup. Choose a location that is easily accessible for a group cleanup day. Next, check with the landowner or manager to get permission to be on their land. Once approved, you can set the date, recruit other volunteers and coordinate trash and recycling removal.

3. Assist Military Families

Military families often move to new areas where they do not have any friends or family to support them. Even coordinating small services such as babysitting, running errands, preparing meals or introducing them to family-friendly amenities can mean a lot. If you live near a military base, you can ask the Family Resource Center on base how you can help. Otherwise, you can check with your local veteran's organization or other community groups like the Kiwanis or Lion's Club to find out how you can help local military families.

4. Care for Caregivers

Many caregivers are actually unpaid family members taking care of elderly parents. With the enormous task of taking care of someone else, caregivers usually put their own needs at the bottom of their list. By assisting caregivers with some of the errands they need to complete, you can help take some of the burden off their shoulders. First, determine the amount of time you can donate to this particular community service before volunteering. After that, you can start by offering rides to doctor's appointments, preparing meals or shopping for groceries. By lightening the load each week, you will be helping the caregiver out tremendously as well as the person who is being cared for.

5. Organize a Charity Event

Are you good at organizing events or parties? If you have a special organization that you would like to raise money or awareness for, coordinating a charity event might be the community service project for you. This could include small events such as neighborhood garage sales, bake sales or book drives. If you want to arrange a larger event, you can find a local venue and sell tickets for a catered dinner or dress-up gala. Whatever sparks your imagination, fundraising for well-deserving charities is another worthwhile project.

As a social work major in college, community service projects will enrich your education and prepare you for your future career at the same time. In fact, many employers will look to see how you maximized your education by giving back to the community. For more excellent community service ideas and volunteering opportunities, visit http://createthegood.org/.