Service Categories
Tennessee Kids Serve Summer Challenge Categories
Summer Challenge Guidelines:
1) Challenge participants must complete a service activity from at least two of the eight categories and a minimum of two service hours during the challenge.
2) Challenge participants must submit their completed service log along with photos of the child serving to the Office of the First Lady by Friday, August 9, 2024.
Below are examples of service activities for each category; however, you are not limited to these examples. Please feel free to get creative and come up with your own service project ideas!
Category 1: Show kindness to the elderly
Examples:
- Ask a local nursing home to pair you with a resident who would enjoy a pen pal and exchange letters.
- Offer to help an elderly neighbor with outdoor chores like mowing, watering plants, or washing their car.
- Share your talents with a local senior center by putting on a concert or talent show.
Category 2: Feed the hungry
Examples:
- Volunteer with a nonprofit in your community to help serve a meal to those experiencing homelessness.
- Place a donation box on your porch. Let your neighbors know you are collecting goods for a local food pantry.
- Pack snack bags for children who receive assistance at food banks. Ask your local food bank what to include in the bags!
Category 3: Care for kids and families in your community
Examples:
- Decorate newborn onesies and donate them to a pregnancy center or nonprofit that supports new moms and babies.
- Create and donate a Family Kit through the Ronald McDonald House for sick kids in the hospital and their families. You could create a spa kit, movie night kit, kids’ activity kit, or come up with your own creative idea.
- Bring cookies or a potted plant to a new family in your neighborhood.
Category 4: Honor veterans and first responders
Examples:
- Offer to help your local fire department with cleaning or chores. You may even get to help wash a firetruck!
- Host a cookie drive with friends and deliver cookies to your local firefighters and policemen together – and be sure to tell them thank you!
- Clean headstones and place flowers or flags at your local veteran’s cemetery.
Category 5: Serve those who serve
Examples:
- Write letters of gratitude to members of the military or first responders to send through Operation Gratitude or a similar organization.
- Make a video for a teacher letting them know you are thankful for them and have a parent help you send it to brighten their summer!
Category 6: Support foster kids and families
Examples:
- Order supplies to make a TAKPAK for a child entering foster care with Tennessee Alliance for kids.
- Drop off snacks at the local DCS office to encourage staff.
- Invite a foster child you know to a day of fun with your family at the library, the zoo, or the swimming pool.
Category 7: Beautify your neighborhood
Examples:
- Volunteer to help with the yardwork at a local women’s shelter or senior center.
- Pick up trash around your neighborhood or at a local park.
- Start a free lending library on your street with gently used books from your collection to share with neighbors.
Category 8: Free Choice/Random Acts of Kindness
Use your creativity to serve a cause you are passionate about. You can repeat one of the activities listed above or use your creativity to meet a need for a person or cause you care about.
Examples:
- Keep cold waters and snacks in the car to give to unhoused individuals.
- Hold a lemonade stand or car wash to raise funds and donate the proceeds to your favorite non-profit.
- Visit the Tennessee Serves volunteer portal online at https://voltnhq.galaxydigital.com/ to find a volunteer opportunity in your area that sounds fun to you!