Service Project Ideas from RandomKid
There are 163 million orphans in the world, of which only a tiny fraction
will ever be adopted. We have to make their lives work where they are.
This project benefits orphans worldwide through organizations you choose.
Schools and youth organizations around the world will design their
own superheros. You can do it as a contest or a collaboration.
RandomKid will turn your winning design into an earth-friendly bamboo
or organic t-shirt that you can sell within your school and larger
community. Each super hero created and sold as a t-shirt to benefit orphans
will be entered into a national contest, and the winning super hero design
will be provided to a celebrity yet-to-be-named. What you may not know is
that Spiderman, Superman and Batman are all super heros who were
orphaned, making this a fitting theme.
All super hero designs collected by RandomKid will be turned into
collectible iron-ons and downloadable badges. Email
SuperHeroProject@randomkid.org to learn more. With the funds raised
you will be able to help fund health centers, toy libraries, and education
programs for orphans around the world. RandomKid will help you select
your area of impact, and what you want to help provide with your funds.
In addition to designing a hero, you will also BE a hero, because real life
super heros are people like you who make the world better for those who
need it most.
GRAVEYARD GATHERING: CONNECTING TO OUR PAST
Every city has it's historic areas that could use a little
sprucing up, be it a new sign, a coat of paint, a mural, repaired brick, better
lighting, etc. By investing in one's historic areas, youth can build stronger
relationships with their communities.
In this project, youth raise
money for small gentrification projects by charging a modest admission fee
to an event at their local community graveyard. At the event, youth stand
next to the gravestones of deceased community members and tell their
stories by researching them and dressing up like them.To find out more,
email Graveyard@randomkid.org
Youth learn about their
community's past by researching historic areas and surveying needs, along
with researching community members that preceded them and learning
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who they were and about their contributions to their city. By learning
about your past, you learn more about yourselves.
BRING RENEWABLE ENERGY TO THE DEVELOPING WORLD
AND OURS
Developing nations lack access to renewable energy
resources relying on sparce and dirty fuels that make them ill. With safe
renewable energy, people are healthier, industries grow, internet
connections happen, children study longer, and walking at night is safe.
You can work with RandomKid to brand your own solar products,
from flashlights to solar LED-lit keychains. RandomKid will provide
everything you need, and cover the upfront costs. The funds you raise will
be used to provide solar and other renewable solutions to villages in the
developing world. This project was started by children with Autism in St.
Louis. Contact energy@randomkid.org for more info.
You will be
bringing renewable energy sources to your community and the world-making your own personal dent in world development and green energy.
It's a project that benefits everyone, everywhere.
ANTI-BOTTLES FOR A GREEN EARTH
The amount of oil used annually to produce single-use
water bottles is enough to fuel 1.5 million cars for a year. 80% of those
bottles-- 38 billion-- end up in landfills where it takes a thousand years to
decompose into toxins. The carbon footprint for this whole process is
unconscionable.
Across the nation youth are working to replace
single-use bottles with a safe reusable bottle that can be rolled up and put
in your pocket. RandomKid is covering the upfront costs, and will work
with youth to design their own tags for the bottles that tell their story of
hope for the world. Join the movement that can change how we think about
our natural resources here at home and around the globe. This project was
started by youth in Florida. Learn more.
Through this single act
you can reduce oil dependency, eliminate future landfill waste and reduce
our carbon footprint. If that's not enough, you can use proceeds from your
sales to provide safe water wells to the world or install green technologies
into your schools, including water filling stations for your bottles.
TICKET TO LEAVE FOR SUMMER BREAK
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Every community has their local summer camps for
children who either can not afford regular camps, or have special needs that
require specialized camp services. In this project, youth donate used art
supplies to distribute to these camps.
This project is about collections. On the last day of school, when used
supplies are returned making backpacks stuffed to the brim, youth will
offer up a contribution from their backpacks as their ticket out of school. Be
it half-used colored pencils, markers, pens, pencils, paper, glue, scissors,
paint, stickers, or something we haven't thought of, they will make a
difference for children who will enjoy these crafty supplies. Contact
Ticket@randomkid.org for more info.
*Other needed items include outgrown games, legos, outgrown sport
supplies (like soccer balls), little toys (like the ones fast food restaurants
give out, matchbox cars, actions figures) that can be used as prizes, Kleenix,
wipes, and water bottles.
Leave school on a high-note, knowing that items that would
normally end up collecting dust or using up space in your home can be a
treasured gift for other youth, adding fun to their summers.
SOLVE THE WORLD'S WATER CRISIS
1.5 million children die every year due to unsafe
drinking water. That's one child every 8 seconds. Develop Your OWN
reusable and recyclable bottled water product, or use the anti-bottles above,
with proceeds supporting technologies that bring safe water to the world.
RandomKid will develop the project with you, cover all upfront costs, and
safely set-up communication networks between participating schools and
youth groups as desired. This project was started by youth in California
and Iowa. Contact water@randomkid.org for more info.The technologies
we are supporting provide direct aid. You can choose where you help,
whom you help, and how you help. You can also interact with kids and
schools across the USA who share your goals, and pool your money
together.
GROW FOOD FOR THE HOMELESS
There are 750,000 homeless people in the USA, living in
every community, including yours. Plant vegetables (all seedlings MAY be
provided for no charge--contact us for details) with your community,
classmates or other youth. After you grow your produce, you can give it all
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away to a local homeless shelter. This project was started by Katie
Stagliano from South Carolina. Contact gardens@randomkid.org for more
info. Charity begins where your heart is-- why not start in your own
backyard? Plus, growing food is green, educational, wholesome and fun!
RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS
There can never be too much kindness in the world. Started by a group of
youth from Boston's inner city, this project brings kindness to the
forgotten places in your hometown.We send you flipcams, and a list of
random acts of kindness suggested by the previous youth who engaged in
this project. You commit these acts of kindness, record them, and upload
them to our site. The previous youth will take delight in seeing what you
do with their ideas, and leave comments. Then you pass the cameras and
your ideas for random acts of kindness to the next group of youth. Contact
kindness@randomkid.org for more info.It's a domino effect--kindness is
passed from community to community. At the end, we encourage you to
share your videos/stories in an assembly at your school, and end by giving
random and unexpected awards to those that engage in unsung kindnesses
every day: Your custodians, lunch room servers, the school nurse-- you
know who they are.
PROVIDE CRUTCHES AND ARTIFICIAL LIMBS TO HAITI
Of the 250,000 people injured in the Haiti earthquake, 150,000 lost limbs
Started by a kid in New York, it’s called “A Step Forward for Haiti”. Kids
bring used or new crutches to a central location, where kids gather to paint
them with messages of love and encouragement. Artificial limbs are secured
by RandomKid. Funds raised are used to ship the items to New Jersey,
where they are sent at no cost to HAITI. Contact haiti@randomkid.org for
more info.
It’s artistic expression combined with answering a huge need.
This is the single greatest medical problem in Haiti, and with a new limb or
crutches, comes a life moved forward.
CREATE A TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN VETERANS OF WAR
This one is about recognizing those who have sacrificed for the
fundamental rights and freedoms of all people-- at great personal risk to
themselves. For many, they made the greatest sacrifice of all: Their lives.
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Honor American veterans by creating a special tribute. Participants will
interview veterans and/or families of veterans in their community, and
retell their stories in a video library on the RandomKid website. You get to
make the video, too. (We have a few flipcams we can send you to use.)
Students may also opt to create photo portraits or photo books of veterans,
and display them in a public place within their communities. This project
was started by youth in Texas. Contact veterans@randomkid.org for more
info.
Culminates in a docent tour (led by you, your school or your group) of
WWI vets who lived well into the new millennium, photographed by
David DeJonge. The exhibit comes to you for your community. At the
exhibit, you will also share your own videos, stories and photographs of the
veterans whose lives and losses you chose to recount. Or your exhibit can
be comprised entirely of the stories of vets from your community.
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CELL PHONE MINUTES FOR SOLDIERS
We can help our soldiers overseas in the most extraordinary way by
providing what they long for most: To hear the voices of their loved
ones.This project is about recycling used cell phones. Did you know that
every phone you recycle through any ATT store generates a $5 donation
that translates into cell phone minutes for soldiers? Almost everyone has
old phones in drawers--now they can be used to make a difference. This
project was started by two siblings from Indiana. Contact
minutes@randomkid.org for more info.
You can give the greatest gift
of all to those that serve--the ability to call home. And while you are at it,
you will be recylcing used cell phones, which is a gift to our earth, too.
SERVICE DOGS THAT SERVE BOTH TRAINER AND RECIPIENT
Service dogs provide near magical services--from predicting seizures, to
detecting cancers, to leading the blind. By allowing inmates to train these
dogs, you add one more benefit-- a way for them to generate some good in
the world. RandomKid can help you to brand and sell your own dog tag
necklaces to raise the funds for these service dogs. We will provide upfront
funds, and help you develop your design ideas. Contact
dogtags@randomkid.org for more info.
These service dogs will be trained to help vetertans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder, individuals with physical challenges, and law
enforcement officials with explosives detection. In the process, you will be
helping a segment of our community contribute to the world. (Note: This
project can also be used to help fund sending children to college who lost a
parent while in service to our nation.)
TEACH THE WORLD HOW TO LIVE GREEN
By 2030, there will be no glaciers left , and 400,000 square miles of the
Arctic sea will have melted. By 2050, we will have wiped out up to 37% of
all plant and animal species. We can change this. You can create howto/why-to videos posted together in the largest (that's the plan) video
library for people learning what they can do to live greener. Contact
green@randomkid.org for more info. You can lead the culture of change
toward greener and more sustainable living practices. Work with other
youth leaders and kids around the country.
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PLANT FOR THE PLANET
Nothing heals the earth better or faster than planting trees. Felix
Finkbeiner of Germany has a goal of 1 milllion trees planted in every
nation. So far, kids have planted more than 3 million trees.
RandomKid will help you brand your own seed packets to sell, and
with the proceeds, you can buy young trees to plant throughout your
community. Contact trees@randomkid.org for more info.
You
can join in the movement to plant a trillion trees for our ailing planet, and
have your numbers counted with youth all around the globe. Not to
mention, it's a fun way
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