Community Service & Civic Activism

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy… My life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can…  Life is no “brief candle” for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations. – George Bernard Shaw

If people of good will, good health, and a liveable family income devoted a couple of hours a week to community service or civic engagement, it would be a different world for all of us.  Kids who need tutoring or mentoring would have the extra support they need; neighbors would find the time to support one another; civic activists working to build more vibrant, just, and sustainable communities would have the volunteers they need to be successful… and much more.

Man teaching boy how to fish with fishing net in mountain stream at sunset

 There are many ways that ordinary people can get involved.  Check out VolunteerMatch, Points of Light Engage, or your local volunteer center or United Way.  Google what you want to do in your community:  “volunteer mentor near me”, “volunteer environmental work near me,” etc.

There’s no shortage of work that needs to be done in communities across the country!  Volunteering by itself won’t solve our major civic challenges like economic inequality, racism, climate change. a dysfunctional civic culture, or lack of affordable health care, but it can connect people across class, race, ideology, and neighborhood and build the “habits of the heart” that will help us all learn to work together to make a better world.

To give you a sense of the many ways that you can get involved in making a better world, here’s the list of volunteering categories from VolunteerMatch:

  • Advocacy & Human Rights
  • Animals
  • Arts & Culture
  • Board Development
  • Children & Youth
  • Community
  • Computers & Technology
  • Crisis Support
  • Disaster Relief
  • Education & Literacy
  • Emergency & Safety
  • Employment
  • Environment
  • Faith-Based
  • Health & Medicine
  • Homeless & Housing
  • Hunger
  • Immigrants & Refugees
  • International
  • Justice & Legal
  • LGBTQ+
  • Media & Broadcasting
  • People with Disabilities
  • Politics
  • Race & Ethnicity
  • Seniors
  • Sports & Recreation
  • Veterans & Military Families
  • Women
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