Fifty great JOIN HANDS DAY project ideas that work

           

1. Repair bicycles to give to disadvantaged children and teach them bicycle maintenance.
2. Collect chairs of various shapes and sizes, paint them artistically and auction them for a worthy cause.
3. Collect children’s books to give to disadvantaged children. Consider sorting into themes, decorating theme book areas, dressing in appropriate costumes and developing suitable games.
4. Repair gravestones and improve landscaping in a cemetery. Document historic grave sites.
5. Connect with a builders’ association to help refurbish a group home.
6. Plant flowers, shrubs and trees in a park or other location. Work with a landscape architect and/or master gardener to develop a special garden in a park, at a nursing home or at a group home.
7. Revitalize a community facility by mulching; planting trees and flowers; refurbishing sandboxes, swings and track areas; or painting picnic tables or bleachers.
8. Develop a hiking path, removing vegetation and putting down mulch.
9. Work with an environmental group in monitoring river water and/or saving rare plants and/or removing invasive plants.
10. Collect stuffed bears (and other animals), write messages to tie or clip onto the bears and give them to local police departments to use in comforting children.
11. Hold a health and safety fair.
12. Invite the visually impaired to a special bowling event.
13. Participate in the national Veterans’ History Project by having youth videotape interviews with war veterans in advance. Invite the veterans to a program to showcase portions of the videos along with their war memorabilia.
14. Sponsor a major recycling project that culminates with a recycling program and demonstration. At a school, raise the money for teacher supplies or other special needs.
15. Provide free vision and/or other medical screening tests.
16. Hold a fashion show, silent auction and dessert reception to benefit a worthy cause.
17. Put on a community senior citizens prom with good food, band music, door prizes and gifts. Get donations and in-kind donations from community businesses.
18. Help seniors by installing safety devices, raking yards, cleaning gutters or shopping for their groceries.
19. Assemble “Summer Fun Reading Bags” for children to encourage reading and learning over the summer months.
20. Refurbish or build a new playground in a neighborhood, park, childcare center or foster children’s home.
21. Clear out an illegal tire dump, giving the tires to a recycler.
22. Hold a benefit supper and bake sale for someone with medical needs. Invite choirs and singing groups to donate time to sing for an after-supper program.
23. Plant a vegetable garden at a seniors’ residence or children’s center.
24. Teach seniors computer skills, or help seniors and youth learn Web page skills together.
25. Take seniors and/or children fishing.
26. Paint a mural at a school, community center or group home.
27. Create a ceramic intergenerational mural.
28. Build on a Habitat for Humanity house or other home for someone in need.
29. Clean and paint camp cabins.
30. Plant sunflowers and other wildflowers on country roadsides.
31. Build and put up birdhouses, butterfly boxes or bat houses.
32. Do yard work at a group home or homeless mission.
33. Collect school items, pack into donated backpacks for disadvantaged children.
34. Clean up a neighborhood after a tornado, hurricane or flood.
35. Connect with seniors to transplant flowers into planters for display at a senior living facility.
36. Develop an entrance to your town with a sign, plantings and flagpole.
37. Assemble transition bags for children at safe houses.
38. Work with youth in a correctional facility to put on a joint intergenerational meal. Include a storytelling time when different generations share life experiences.
39. Have youth interview seniors in advance, write their biographies and come together to share the stories and bring photos.
40. Build planters and plant with flowers to brighten village streets.
41. Install a brick walkway at a safe house or other facility.
42. Install shelving and storage bins at a non-profit agency or group home.
43. Develop a memorial and/or garden honoring veterans, firefighters, police or American heroes.
44. Create a museum exhibit about an area industry or ethnic heritage.
45. Hold an interaction, intergenerational, intercultural festival of games, music and fun.
46. Put on a fun day of games, with booths or tables, for kids from an at-risk after-school children’s center or foster children in the local DCFS program.
47. Paint over graffiti and remove hazards from alleys.
48. Paint temporary classroom buildings.
49. Install ramps for seniors who need them.
50. Have a concession stand to raise money for a cause.