There are many local serving opportunities that students, parents, teachers, and staff can start participating in. Many people do not serve the community because they have not heard about any of the opportunities. Below you may find a few serving opportunities that interest you. I highly encourage you to go out and serve your community.

The following opportunities are mainly available to adults and high school students, but there are a few options for younger students.

Live Green in Plano Volunteer Program, this program offers a unique opportunity for teens ages 13-18. They can participate in monthly gardening, special event assistance, and plot adoption are just a few things they do. They also do litter cleanup and storm drain labeling which are opportunities that are open to all ages. Litter cleanup and storm drain labeling also do not require you to have done the orientation, but if you are interested in the other projects you will have to do the orientation to get started. If you are 13-18 and interested in the Live Green in Plano Volunteer Program then visit here

SoupMobile is a kitchen on wheels. They serve the homeless people in Dallas fresh meals from their minibus. Only people above the age of 21 can participate in SoupMobile, but kids of all ages can help pack sandwiches for the homeless. Another unique opportunity for people above the age of 21 is the prayer trolley. Volunteers will get on the trolley and drive around to homeless areas so that they can pray with the homeless along with giving them food. But is it an actual trolley?

“You better believe it baby! God parted the Red Sea (again) and we have a real live trolley,” says David Timothy, who is known to his community as SoupMan.

Find more information about this organization here

The Birthday Party Project is an amazing organization that wants to spread joy to homeless kids and their families by giving them a birthday party. The Birthday Party Project has hosted over 2,500 birthday parties! Out of those parties, 63,000 kids came. Those kids experienced a party full of joy and love. I got to help with a birthday party at the McKinney shelter and the joy on those kids’ faces is something I’ll never forget. We had tables set up around, with fun crafts and games. A little boy sat down at the necklace and bracelet table and quickly got to work. He was so focused on lining up all the beads and making sure they were even. Once he strung everything on, he started to have a bit of trouble getting the clasp to work. The little boy asked me to help him with it and while I was stringing it on he excitedly told me about how he made this necklace for one of the Birthday girls. It honestly brought tears to my eyes because of how excited he was to make a gift for her. When the birthday girl walked in everyone ran to greet her and wished her a happy birthday. The little boy came up to her with the necklace and she excitedly put it on. This made all the other kids want to make gifts for all the birthday kids. Pretty soon the birthday kids had ten necklaces and bracelets along with tons of magnets that the kids made. The whole cafeteria was filled with laughter, excitement, and joy. I’m extremely grateful to the Birthday Party Project for making it possible for the kids and parents to have such a great experience.

You can be a part of the Birthday Party Project too by volunteering. You can help pack presents for the kids, help sort items, or help out at a birthday party. You can also donate to the birthday party project by giving toys for the kids or money, so they can buy party supplies, gifts, and many other things that would not be possible without donors.

“I loved volunteering at the Birthday Party Project. Since I’m 12 I can’t go to the birthday parties at the shelters, but I can pack gifts for the kids. It’s always so exciting to get the paper with the description of your kid and what they like, so you can pick out the perfect gift for the kid.” says Kinsey Reiter

Find more about the Birthday Party Project here

Prestonwood Cares is a God-centered serving community. They have opportunities for all ages to serve. They do ministries, outreaches, and The Hunger Project. Prestonwood cares often has collections for food, school supplies, and Christmas gifts. This is a great way to serve anytime, but also if you don’t have enough time in your day to serve for an hour. You can pick up a few items on your usual errands and drop them off. This will probably only take 15-20 minutes, but the effect on the people you helped will last a lifetime. Find more about Prestonwood cares at: https://prestonwoodmissions.org/serve/Prestonwood-cares/

Prestonwood Pregnancy Center provides service opportunities for men and women. To be a client advocate no previous experience is necessary, but you will receive training. The training is so you can provide the best counseling and help for pregnant mothers and their families. The opportunities for men are talking to the families of the mother. For women, the service opportunities are to talk to the mother about her pregnancy and the options and effects of parenting, adoption, and abortion. You will need to volunteer at least 1 shift per week (2-3 hrs).

Medical volunteers are also needed. To qualify you have to be a nurse, nursing student, CNA, RDMNS, or OBYGN. Medical volunteers will do pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and education on pregnancy. You will need to serve a minimum of 1 shift a week (2-3 hrs).

Other volunteers are needed for jobs like front desk receptionist, pregnancy test administrator, phone advocate, administrative volunteer, family resource volunteer, translator, class instructor, and volunteers for client events.

Find more about the Prestonwood Pregnancy Center here