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Step 1
Rent Al Gore’s movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," and jump start an interest in the environment. Recycling centers are always looking for volunteers to help sort materials, help carry in donations from older people's cars, pass out literature, among other activities.
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Step 2
As a family, pick a cause that has touched your lives. For example, a friend might have a debilitating disease, a relative might have mental retardation, or a school friend may be dealing with vision problems. Most communities hold at least one kind of marathon, walk-a-thon, bike-a-thon or other event for these each year. In addition to participating, you can help out by volunteering to help out by stuffing envelopes for mailers, setting up for the event, or help at the event itself by pouring water for runners.
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Step 3
Participate in food drives by asking all of your relatives to bring canned and packaged goods to your next family gathering. Let kids be in charge of sorting the goods, and also ask them to troop around the neighborhood in the afternoon and ask for additional donations. Drop these off at a collection site.
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Step 4
Help your kids and their friends put together little programs to perform at nursing homes; kids could play their instruments, sing, dance, tell funny stories, or even put on a skit. Or you could all simply volunteer your time to talk with people there who don't often have visitors; they would probably just enjoy hearing about your family, your pets, the kids’ school and more.
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Step 5
For dog lovers, this one’s a natural: Some humane societies need dog walkers who sign up to come on a regular basis and exercise the dogs.
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Step 6
Get kids interested in finding out about candidates running for offices in your community and state who share your opinions on a variety of issues. Volunteer for those candidates by stuffing envelopes with campaign letters, delivering signs or anything else they might need.
