helpingMitzvah Project Ideas

These ideas have been collected from a variety of B’nei Mitzvah students, synagogues, friends, organizations, and very creative people! We hope this helps you explore more ideas to create your own community service project.

We always appreciate your input. Email us if you have suggestions for additions, or if you find a broken or incorrect link within our site.

Animals
The Arts
  • Say Si
  • Artpace
  • The Magik Theatre
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Host a dance instruction party for special needs children at your dance studio.
Books & Literacy (& Writing)
  • Reach Out and Read
  • Jewish Literacy Coalition
  • San Antonio Youth Literacy (Reading Buddies)
  • SA Reads
  • Inside Books Project
  • Help a library purchase new materials by organizing your own used book sale.
  • Collect books from friends and family and donate them to an inner-city school without a library or a domestic abuse safe house for families.
  • Offer to read to young children at a tutoring center or preschool.
  • 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 in which the proceeds benefit a charity of your choice.
  • Help maintain or host a book drive for Temple Beth-El’s Little Free Library
Clothing
Community
  • Organize a neighborhood block party to build a sense of community. Earmark the funds towards a neighborhood beautification or recycling project.
  • Contact a nursing home and organize a Scrabble tournament or Bingo game to be enjoyed by both young and young at heart.
  • Organize a car wash at a school. Donate the proceeds to your favorite charity.
  • Start 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.
  • Host a sleepover party. Stay up all night baking cookies and bring them the next day to a 4H program, neighborhood youth program or family services center.

 

Education
End Bullying
Environment
Hunger (Baking & Food)
  • Meals on Wheels
  • San Antonio Food Bank
  • Haven for Hope
  • Mazon
  • Texas Hunger Initiative
  • World Hunger Relief
  • Heifer International 
  • Feeding America
  • Bake desserts and sell them to raise funds for an organization important to you or your family.
  • Find a Meals that Matter or Caring Congregants program in your synagogue to help cook or bake meals for the food insecure.
  • A local soup kitchen may need help during dinner service. Contact your United Way to find volunteer opportunities there.
  • Bake a dessert or dinner for a family going through a crisis. Deliver the meal in person.
  • Begin a healthy eating campaign at school. Enlist the help of the physical education teacher and guidance counselor.
  • Collect non-perishable food donations from friends and family to donate to your local food bank.
  • Find out how you can donate your leftover bar/bat mitzvah party food to those in need. Your caterer can help.
  • Pass out bags to homeless people:
    • Bags with food/snacks, hand sanitizer, water, toothbrush/toothpaste, socks, etc
Health
Holocaust
Israel
Military
Music
      • Music and Memory
      • Hungry for Music
      • Music for Autism
      • Songsoflove.org
      • Write a song for charity.
      • Invite friends and family over for a karaoke night. Charge an entry fee and donate the funds to a charity of your choice.
      • Collect instruments for inner-city music programs in need of funding and equipment.
      • Take your band on the road for a school performance. Sell tickets and donate the proceeds to a music program in need.
      • Spread cheer to children or senior citizens by visiting them at a local shelter or nursing home and playing your instrument or singing.
Special Needs
Sports
Technology
  • Tech 4 Tots
  • Project MEND
  • 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.
  • 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 cause for a non-profit limited on funding.
  • Develop a Public Service Announcement video to be shown in your school about a topic which interests you and is meaningful.
  • Teach a technology class at a senior center or school.
Youth