This year is the celebration of 100 years of Montana State University Extension. Because MSU Extension has a long tradition of meeting community needs, we would like to challenge you to celebrate the Power of 10 with us! We’ve been serving Montanans for 10 decades. Can you give 10 minutes a day or 10 hours between September 10 and October 10 to serve your community to help us celebrate?
Below is a list of ways for you to serve your community. Please share with us what you plan to do or what you complete between September 10 and October 10! We are capturing the results. Take a picture to send us, post a comment on this blog, drop us a note or email to let us know what you did. If you want, wear MSU Blue and Gold while you serve! What you do today may matter in 10 minutes, 10 days, 10 years or 10 decades. Be the Power of 10 with MSU Extension!
- Help someone weed their yard
- Bake someone dinner who needs it
- Donate food to a food pantry
- Pick up trash
- Think of someone who needs to be taken to lunch and do it
- Give someone a ride who needs it
- Volunteer to drive someone to and from a medical appointment
- Volunteer at the library
- Read to somebody
- Rake someone’s yard
- Help at an animal rescue center
- Donate to a local thrift store
- Reinforce a creek bed (call Extension Office for details)
- Offer to paint the exterior of a house that needs it
- Offer to haul off large items, such as refrigerators or abandoned vehicles
- Teach a child a skill
- Volunteer to do activities at Bee Hive Homes, nursing homes, Skyline Lodge
- Shovel a sidewalk
- Trim a tree that obstructs walkers on sidewalks
- Do some random act of kindness daily
- Leave positive, encouraging notes where people will see them
- Call someone you’ve been thinking of
- Check in on an elderly neighbor
- Walk someone across the street
- Deliver groceries to someone who needs
- Volunteer at the school – make copies, read to a child, help a teacher, clean or organize
- Pay for the person behind you at the drive thru
- Leave a gift for someone in a random public place such as on a park bench, at a bus stop, the library, a coffee house, or restaurant
- Praise someone at work for a job well done
- Volunteer at a homeless shelter
- Stop and listen when someone needs to talk
- Organize a clothing drive
- Teach someone a new technology or skill
- Take a petting zoo to a nursing home
- Send a thank you note or expression of gratefulness to someone who has made a difference to you
- Help people register to vote
- Thank a service worker or volunteer – ambulance, fire fighters, law enforcement, etc.
- Help a family with young children
- Make freezer meals for a shut-in
- Start an effort to help an individual or a group
- Help someone declutter their world
- Offer to babysit for free for a family or public meeting
- Plant a tree or flowers in a neglected area
- Help winterize a home
- Shop for someone who is homebound or ill, especially in bad weather.
- Smile at someone
- The next time you have exceptional service make sure to tell the person’s manager
- Donate your used books and/or magazines to a local library
- Adopt a “grand-friend”
- Clean the gutters or wash windows for a senior citizen
- Write a letter to an older person
- Forgive someone who has wronged you
- Give a presentation to a classroom of students on your occupation or an area of interest that you are passionate about
- Send a care package to a college student or someone else in transition
- Donate your expertise to someone in need
- Volunteer to deliver meals for senior centers
- Stick up for a person who has been treated wrongly
- Let someone, who only has a few items, go ahead of you in the checkout line of the grocery store
- Invite someone new for dinner such as a neighbor, co-worker, friend, or family member.
- Welcome a new resident to the community
- Run an errand for someone in need
- Play a game with somebody
- Organize a group to address a community need
- Get permission from an owner of an empty lot and do something to beautify it
- Fix a sidewalk
- Beautify your area or help someone else
- Erect a fountain or some other monument in a town center
- Raise funds to improve a public building
- Put out a park bench or chairs to create a welcoming space
- Donate money to support someone’s music or art lessons
- Teach a class
- Donate garden produce to someone who would appreciate it
- Think about what your community needs in the next 100 years and work toward one thing
- Teach a dance class
- Shop at a local family-owned business
- Start an adult literacy program
- Get certified in CPR and first aid
- Join a civic organization
- Find an important cause and volunteer
- Recruit someone new to your community organization
- Provide healthy snacks for a classroom
- Carpool somewhere
- Adopt a “grand-child”
- Exercise with someone
- Encourage the discouraged
- Donate money or time to a local charity
- Give blood
- Sign up to train to volunteer as an EMT or fire fighter
- Organize a neighborhood library box, where you put books you’ve enjoyed and leave them for others to take. A “give and take” library that builds neighborhood connections
- Collect aluminum cans or other recyclables and donate money to a favorite charity
- Clean up a river or creek bed
- Organize a nature education and adventure walk
- Organize a bike check and bike safety education program
- Organize a child-safety car seat check
- Interview older people and record their history, share with community and family
- Make fleece blankets to donate to those in need
- Help gather and catalogue copies of historic photos from your community
- Campaign for better marked cross walks
- Help correct problem areas where water and ice buildup creating walking hazards
- Keep going with the power of 10 – Try to do 10 minutes a day of service to others or 10 hours a month serving your community in some way
