Iowa Public Television
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Zoom in the Community

COMMUNITY SERVICE SCAVENGER HUNT

Before selecting a community service or volunteer project, you may wish to investigate your community. This scavenger hunt is designed to help you find a project that is right for you. Remember that one person can make a difference!

  1. Start at home. Take a walk around your neighborhood. Do you like what you see, hear, smell? What improvements could be made? Snap a few pictures, make a quick sketch or write yourself a note about what you encounter.

  2. Flip through your phone book. As you move through the phone book, and take time to read the Community Pages. What areas or attractions interest you? Does your community offer similar things?

  3. Take a survey. Ask one of your friends to describe the greatest the best thing about your community. Then ask them to share what they feel is the greatest problem/need in your community. Present the same question to your teacher, principal, custodian, parents, grandparents, or neighbors. Compare and contrast their responses. Now, ask yourself the same two questions.

  4. Conduct research to discover what community aid/service agencies currently exist in your community. You may wish to use the Internet, the library and/or the phone book (the blue Government Pages are a good source of information).

    5. PROGRESS CHECK
    Do you feel prepared to select a community service project?
    If so, what led you to this decision?

  5. Using the ZOOM Into Action "My Volunteer Project" form, document your plan.
  6. ZOOM Into Action on a solo project, or share your project idea with your classmates, family or friends.

TOP TEN THINGS ONE PERSON CAN DO TO IMPROVE HIS/HER COMMUNITY
(Be sure to ask an adult to help make the necessary arrangements)


  1. Adopt an elderly neighbor and offer to help him/her with seasonal yard work.
  2. Pick up trash from a local park.
  3. Contribute one canned good a week to a local food bank or drive.
  4. Volunteer at your local animal shelter, or collect items such as clean towels to donate.
  5. Spend time reading to patients at a local hospital or nursing home.
  6. Create a "kindness kit" each month. Collect items like a paperback book, canned goods, or other items you think the recipient might enjoy.
  7. Scatter wildflower seeds in ditches.
  8. Draw or paint a picture, frame it, and donate it to a local nursing home or hospital.
  9. Grow potted plants or herbs, and donate them to neighbors.
  10. Donate new or used toys to a homeless shelter.