71 Ways to Serve Someone Today

All around there are opportunities to serve—in your family, among friends, in your community, and with an organization you trust. Here are a few ideas to get you started. Leave your ideas in a comment below.

1. Deliver meals to the elderly through Meals on Wheels or similar programs
2. Volunteer at a local soup kitchen
3. Rake leaves for a neighbor
4. Clean, shelve or organize books at the public library
5. Pick up litter along the streets
6. Teach a second language to an interested learner
7. Bake cookies for a friend
8. Share a scripture with someone who's hurting
9. Give blood through American Red Cross
10. Plant a tree in the city park
11. Invite an unemployed friend to a job fair or career workshop
12. Wash the windows of your dad's car
13. Post an inspirational thought on Facebook
14. Teach a merit badge class to Boy Scouts
15. Donate food to a local food bank
16. Mow your neighbor's lawn
17. Pray for someone...and then do what the Spirit tells you to do for that person
18. Assemble hygiene, newborn or school kits using LDS Humanitarian Center guidelines. While there, check out a veritable smorgasbord of projects you and your family can become involved in today
19. Visit lonely patients at a nursing home. Share with them, sing with them, laugh with them.
20. Read with a child
21. Say "I love you" and really mean it
22. Do the laundry without being asked
23. Talk with your mayor or city administrator about current needs in your community. Then go and do
24. Run a 5k for charity
25. Help someone move in or out of a new home
26. Write a poem, paint a picture or sing a song to brighten someone's day
27. Clean up in the community after a tornado, flood or other natural disaster
28. People need to talk. Listen to them
29. Sweep sidewalks or shovel snow
30. Smile and say "hello" to stranger in the grocery store
31. Distribute flyers for upcoming community events or fundraisers
32. Give a handicapped friend a ride to church
33. Refer a struggling friend to online addiction recovery resources
34. Send a letter to a friend, serviceman, college student, foreign exchange student, or missionary (please and thank you)
35. Participate in community, state, national or worldwide days of service
36. Join the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) at your child's school
37. Organize files at an educational institution
38. Familiarize yourself with political candidates and issues and teach your friends what you learn
39. Walk your neighbor's dog
40. Weed your family's garden or a neighborhood garden
41. Make breakfast in bed for a family member or friend
42. Sincerely compliment somebody on a job well done
43. Volunteer as an election judge in your municipality
44. Keep a journal for future generations to read
45. As the new year rolls around, buy or make a beautiful calendar for a friend
46. Share a meaningful talk, sermon or book with a friend
47. Apologize to someone you've offended
48. Invite a neighbor to dinner
49. Sing carols at Christmastime
50. Give an unexpected, anonymous gift to a neighbor
51. Take five minutes to call a lonely friend
52. Improve a nature trail in your area
53. Play a board game with your brother or sister
54. Share fruits and vegetables from your garden with a neighbor
55. Take care of a friend's pets while he or she is on vacation
56. Find an organization or cause in your area to which you feel comfortable lending support
57. Treat the lonely and downtrodden the way you would like to be treated—with care and dignity
58. Be the kind of person others can rely on in their times of need
59. Prepare a meal for an expecting mother or a tired patient
60. Teach somebody a skill you've learned
61. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
62. Rescue an animal from the pound
63. Be kind to everyone you meet today—even your enemies
64. Thank a solider for his military service
65. Welcome a new friend into the neighborhood with a loaf of freshly baked bread
66. Have a yard sale. Give proceeds to charity
67. Purchase a book you love for your public library
68. Host a foreign exchange student or foster child
69. Donate items to Goodwill, Deseret Industries, Salvation Army and other similar organizations
70. Volunteer at your child's school
71. Learn from the master of selfless service, Jesus Christ. Study His life. Try to do what He would do and live as He would live. A good place to start is this website