Discover how you can help others from the safety and comfort of your home.
Giving back to others can be a joyful and fulfilling way to spend your free time. You have the power to help people, share your talents, and make your community a better, kinder place to live. These community service ideas for seniors can get you started on your mission of goodwill while still following social distance guidelines:
- Donate to a food bank or clothing charity
- Check on neighbors and loved ones
- Make care packages for homeless shelters or the troops
- Donate needed items to essential workers
- Teach a useful skill via video
- Virtually support hearing loss organizations
Find more information below on these community service ideas for seniors that you can do from home.
Donate to a food bank or clothing charity
Food and clothing can drastically improve the lives of families in your community who may be suffering financial hardship as a result of COVID-19. Many people are out of work and need this type of support more than ever. Local food banks or other charities may be accepting online monetary donations or offering no-contact drop-off points for physical goods. These options can make it easier to help your community while social distancing measures are in place.
Check on neighbors and loved ones
This community service idea is geared toward helping the people you know. Particularly if you know they live alone, you can make a neighbor, family member or friend’s day with a phone call to check in to see how they’re doing. Perhaps you’re able to assist them from afar, like helping them arrange grocery and supply deliveries, or simply letting them know you’re there if they want to talk. Either way, a phone call is meaningful way to connect with others, even at a distance. By displaying captions of everything your conversation partner says, CapTel captioned phones make these connections easy for people with hearing loss. Shop our selection of captioned hearing loss phones here.
Donate to homeless shelters
Some of the everyday things we take for granted—like toothpaste, lip balm, favorite snacks, and cozy socks—are luxury items to those who might be struggling during these times. Another community service idea for seniors is to donate funds to help a local homeless shelter stock up on these and other needed supplies. Check out this Homeless Shelter Directory to find a shelter near you.
Donate needed items to essential workers
During this crisis, essential workers like doctors, nurses, and grocery store employees are hard at work, keeping much-needed goods and services available. Because they often have little time to care for themselves between shifts, you can help them out with useful essential worker gifts. These gifts can include hand sanitizer, self-care items like soap and lotion, canned food, cleaning supplies, coffee, gift cards for restaurant delivery, and masks if you have some or can make quality homemade versions.
Teach a useful skill via video
Do you have a lot of knowledge to share? Perhaps you’re a gardening expert, a woodworking whiz, or your friends and family rave about your cooking. Since many people may be looking for ways to stay occupied and creative at home, consider teaching a new virtual recipe or skill you’ve come to master. You don’t have to be a full-time teacher or professor to share your know-how! Instead, you can try your hand at recording videos to pass on your skills. You can upload them to YouTube or a free online class website!
Virtually support hearing loss organizations
If you live with hearing loss – or know someone who does – you have a valuable perspective to contribute while helping others! Another great community service idea for seniors is to support the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) Walk4Hearing, an annual event held nationwide to raise money for national and local hearing loss programs. For 2020 readers, walks through June are being turned into virtual events due to the current COVID-19 situation and CDC recommendations.
In difficult times, caring for our communities and loved ones is a great way to spread optimism and hope. We at CapTel send best wishes to all our readers; stay safe and healthy!
