In our quest to keep The Mitzvah Bowl’s stock updated with souper good deeds, our staff has compiled a list of Mitzvah Project Ideas collected from a variety of B’nai Mitzvah students, synagogues, friends, organizations, and very creative people! We hope this helps you explore more ideas to create your own community service project.
ARTS
- Organize an art show using original student artwork and donate the proceeds to a cause.
- Brighten up a homeless shelter with children’s artwork created through an original art contest.
- Organize a photography show with original student photographs.
- Become the historian for a community organization and take pictures at their events.
- Collect the photos and organize them into scrapbooks.
- Videotape your town’s history by interviewing the historical society, researching books in the library, and finding old maps of how the town has evolved. Ask the township to feature your video on their website.
- Invite friends to a pottery store to decorate vases (or purchase paintable vases at an art store). Fill the vases with flowers and bring them to a rehabilitation center to brighten the patients’ rooms.
- If you are handy with woodwork, build doghouses and contact an animal rescue shelter to donate your creations.
- Coordinate painting a mural at a shelter.
- Direct, choreograph and produce your own theater production as a summer project.
Baking
- Bake desserts and sell them to raise funds for the poor
Books
- Help a library purchase new materials by organizing your own used book sale
Bullying
- Start an Anti-Bullying campaign in your school or community by creating flyers, presenting to an audience, and getting in touch with the local newspapers to help you spread the word. Have your friends sign a petition and see how many anti-bullying pledges you can obtain.
Community
- Organize a neighborhood block party to build a sense of community. Earmark the funds towards a neighborhood beautification or recycling project.
- Contact an convalescent home and organize a Scrabble tournament to be enjoyed by both young and young at heart.
- Organize a car wash at a school. Donate the proceeds to your favorite charity.
- Organize a jump rope contest for your synagogue’s youth group. Have each participant bring a toy under $5 to donate to a toy drive.
- Arrange a rollerskating party. Have each friend attending bring a non-perishable snack to donate for a food pantry or throw a party for a special needs group of children with the food you collected.
- Host a sleepover party. Stay up all night baking cookies and bring them to a shelter.
Dance
- Collect old dance shoes and leotards to donate to kids who can’t afford them.
- Hold a dance marathon at a studio to raise money for a charity.
Education
- Collect school supplies and donate them to a classroom in need.
- Conduct a ‘read-a-thon’ in your school. Challenge the students to read an hour each day after school. The winning student will log the most reading hours.
Environmental
- Organize a recycling program in your school or synagogue.
Food
- Organize a bake sale as a fundraiser for a cause.
- Begin a healthy eating campaign at school. Enlist the help of the physical education teacher and guidance counselor.
Games
- Have your school sponsor a chess tournament for local students. By charging a registration fee, you may raise funds for a local charity of your choice.
Halloween
- Collect & recycle Halloween costumes from your friends and neighbors.
Music
- Write a song for charity.
Ornithology
- Become a birder and educate the public about birds. Learn more by volunteering at a local zoo.
Recycling
- Put together a drive to recycle electronics. Promote it through your synagogue, school, and neighborhood with flyers. Ask the recycling company to donate a portion of their proceeds to the charity of your choice.
Technology
- Design a website for a cause.
- Designate a ‘no cell phone’ area near your school. Promote safe driving and the use of hand-free devices.
- Collect old computers for those in need.
- Teach email, surfing the web, and document creation to the elderly.
- Create a video montage of an event or life with a special -needs child having them assist you in picking the photos to make it a meaningful experience.
- Develop a Public Service Announcement video to be shown in your school about a topic which interests you and is meaningful
Winter
- Start a Hat, Coat or Gloves/Mittens drive for the homeless and needy.
Writing
- Write a book about a topic which interests you.
- Write a poem about a topic of concern.
- Write letters to politicians about your cause or political views.
- Record and write the life story of an elderly friend or family member for example, a
- Holocaust survivor!
- Design & create a recipe book that can be sold through your synagogue’s sisterhood or at a school event n which the proceeds benefit a charity of your choice.