Service Ideas: 10 Simple Ideas for Providing Service

giving back • my world • Mom It Forward Mondays • tips for giving back

by Mom It Forward on October 17th, 2011 | No Comments »

Service—This week's Season of Service challenge is to provide a simple act of service based on that word, "provide." You can either provide something to someone in need, or support someone else who does. Check out these bite-size ideas.

10 Bite-Size Ideas to Provide Service to Others

Sign up for the e-newsletter of the Corporation for Supportive Housing, which helps communities to provide more units of affordable housing.
Visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness's site to see if there are any support groups provided in your area for someone you know who is suffering from mental illness or who has a family member with that challenge.
Download the free We&Co iPhone app so you can thank businesses who provide great service to you, in a unique way.
Write an essay about how you would improve the lives of others if you were provided with $100,000 and submit it to The Life Improvement Project (today!).
Buy any Dannon Activia or Oikos yogurt, and enter the codes found under the lids of each single-serve container at CupsOfHope.com. For each code entered, Dannon will provide a 10¢ or 20¢ donation to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Donate $5 to the National Military Family Association's Operation Purple program, which provides traditional camps and family retreats to help empower military children and their families to develop and maintain healthy and connected relationships, in spite of the current military environment.
Provide someone who cares full-time for an older parent or special needs child with a break, if they're willing, for a couple of hours.
Provide a bag of Halloween candy to an unemployed friend so that they can participate in the festivities without dipping into their slender savings.
Sign up for the daily newsletter of Philanthroper.com, which features a different nonprofit every day of the year, and pools your optional $1 donation with others to help provide homeless kids with socks and Ugandan women with family planning materials, etc.
Search for the HandyHandMeDowns Group on Facebook, or start one of your own where members can list specific things they can provide (e.g., used clothes, books, etc.) or that they need and could swap.

How Will You Give to Others This Week?

What other ideas do you have for giving to others by "providing"?
How has "providing" made a meaningful difference for you this week?
How have others given to you this week and what difference has that made in your life?

How Else Can You Make a Difference This Season?

Make a meaningful difference this season by taking the Season of Service (SOS) Challenge. Here's how you can participate:

Commit to do one act of kindness/service based on the week's challenge.
Leave a comment with ideas relating to the week's challenge as well as your experience(s) performing it.
Enter to win each week's giveaway. Check out this week's prizes from Together Counts by clicking here.
Join #gno this Tuesday on Twitter to connect with other Mom It Forward moms about the challenge.