Organize a Rosh Hashanah dinner through your synagogue for people who may not have family or friends to share the holiday with
Make a New Year’s resolution relating to improving yourself
As a family determine a tzedakah that you would like to support and have everyone in the family make a contribution
Donate your change from the week in between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to tzedakah
As the prayers discuss life and death, sign up for a CPR course in your area so that you will have the ability to save someone’s life
Encourage people who attend Tashlich (ritual throwing away of one’s sins) to be careful not to speak badly about others
If you are in the New York area, join Dorot the Sunday before Rosh Hashanah, to make packages for the holiday and deliver them to the elderly
Go apple picking and donate the apples with honey to nursing home residents
Make New Year’s cards for victims of terror, the elderly or patients in hospitals
Contact the chaplain of your local hospital and arrange to get the lists of Jewish patients staying in the hospital for Rosh Hashanah and visit them on the holiday
Create honey jars and buy apples to distribute them to a food pantry
Make New Year’s cards and send them to impoverished people in Israel
Make a resolution to stay in contact in closer contact with your grandparents, relatives living overseas, etc.
Bring a basket of apples and honey to a home for seniors
Make tzedakah boxes and give tzedakah daily in the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
Tzom Gedaliah
Check in on a friend you know to be fasting
Spend time learning about the origin and meaning of Tzom Gedaliah
Commit to being a better person this year
Join a service club at your school or in your community
Think about ways in which you can give back to your community or the Jewish people and act on it
Make a break-fast meal for someone who is too tired to do so for him or herself
Donate the money you would have spent on lunch today to an organization in need
As Tzom Gedaliah falls during the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah (Ten Days of Repentance), take some time to consider others’ thoughts and feelings before pursuing your own actions
Prepare a break-fast meal for a family with limited financial means
Yom Kippur
Arrange a clothing drive in your community
Sponsor a meal before or after the fast
Choose one person and do something nice for them everyday for the next week
Call your grandparents or an elderly friend after the fast to check in on them
Make a resolution for the upcoming year and commit to becoming a volunteer
Host a food drive for those who are not only hungry on fast days
Prepare a Tefillah booklet for those who may not know as much as you do
Contribute the money you would have spent on food for that day to a food pantry
Sukkot
Have your school or synagogue partner with Habitat for Humanity and build a house for someone less fortunate
Promote homelessness awareness in your community
Help a neighbor build their Sukkah
Invite an child to a holiday meal
Offer to share your lulav and etrog with someone who does not have one
Arrange a Sukkah decorating event for you synagogue
Have a Sukkah decoration drive for people who cannot afford to beautify their Sukkah
Create a community gemach for old sukkot and related holiday items
Arrange a community wide event to take place during chol hamoed
In the spirit of the Ushpizin, the tradition of inviting one of the seven biblical leaders (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joseph and David) to our sukkah each night of sukkot, invite people who would otherwise eat alone
Offer to help someone build their sukkah
Shmini Atzeret & Simchat Torah
Make Torahs out of paper rolls with children to bring to synagogue
Invite a child with special needs to come with you to shul and join the simcha
Bring treats to share with friends and children to brighten their holiday
Bake cakes and cookies shaped like Torah scrolls – bring them to children in a Jewish orphanage
Join a shul in an old age home and partake in their celebration
Organize a party for children in a hospital during the day
Bring a grandparent to synagogue with you
Help a neighbor take down their Sukkah
Bring your Sukkah decorations to a local nursing home or shelter to make it more festive
Chanukah
Send Chanukah care packages or cards to Israeli soldiers
Tell someone about Chanukah and why it is the holiday of light
Adopt a pet from an animal shelter
Arrange a benefit concert to increase the joy of Chanukah, donate the proceeds to tzedakah
Before Chanukah begins, hold a seminar on fire safety
Make and decorate menorahs, distribute them to people who cannot afford them
Send sufganiot (jelly donuts) to Israeli soldiers
Buy a present and donate it to a child in a local shelter or someone else who won’t be getting a gift
Give tzedakah each night before lighting your menorah
Run a toy drive at your local school or synagogue to collect Chanukah gifts for children who otherwise would not have any
Donate some of your Chanukah gelt to a needy organization
Decorate chanukiot and distribute them to people who cannot afford them
Perform Chanukah songs with friends at a nursing home
“Brighten up” someone’s life – send a care package anonymously to someone who could use cheering up
Instead of giving gifts to your friends and family designate one night of Chanukah and give presents to a family in need
Dress up and put on a Chanukah play for people who are sick
Put on a Chanukah puppet show for children
Host a Chanukah magic show
Host a community wide dreidel game with money going to tzedakah
Make latkes for people who can’t afford to
Make personalized Chanukah cards and send them to soldiers
Put together a candle-making workshop and give candles to people can’t afford them to use for Chanukah
Make dreidels and send them to people to play with
Make a funny Chanukah video
Send pictures in frames to soldiers that are far away
Help older people set up their menorahs
Have a Chanukah carnival
Asara B'Tevet
Learn about the importance and meaning of Asara B’Tevet
Donate money to a nonprofit organization that helps feed those who are hungry
Asara B’Tevet commemorates the siege on Jerusalem – take time to think about people living in tenuous conditions and brainstorm ways to help
Volunteer at a soup kitchen
Help lead a beginner’s prayer service
Tu B'Shevat
Use these resources and project ideas to develop a program for your school, synagogue or community
Host a Tu B’Shevat seder
Invite someone into your community to give a lecture about the environment
Prepare fruit baskets for your local soup kitchen or food pantry
Plant a garden and donate the produce to a soup kitchen or food pantry
Donate flowers to a local hospital or nursing home
Plant a tree in your local park
Cut down on pollution by walking more and driving less
Give a fruit basket to a neighbor
Use recycled paper
Plant a garden at a senior center
Donate nutritious snacks to a shelter
Pick fruit with children and bring the items to homebound individuals
Make fruit jam or juice with friends and donate it to a soup kitchen.
Plant a tree in Israel
Ta'anit Esther
Help a child create a last minute Purim costume
Donate old graggers (noisemakers) to your synagogue in advance of the Purim holiday
Call elderly friends and neighbors who are unable to attend Megillah reading on Purim in a synagogue to make sure they have someone to read for them in their home
Call a friends and volunteer to help him or her deliver mishloach manot packages
Set aside money to donate to matanot l’evyonim (money specifically for the holiday of Purim)
Purim
Prepare a community wide Purimseudah
Read the megilah for people who are unable to leave their homes
Create and distribute costumes for impoverished children
Bring Mishloach Manot to home-bound or hospitalized individuals
Dress up as a clown and visit with children who are ill in the hospital
Decorate tzedakah boxes and place them in community establishments, donate the proceeds to a worthy organization
Do Purim skits for residents of nursing homes and hospitals
Host a Purim party and donate the cover charge to tzedakah
Have a Purim carnival for children with special needs
Bring mishloach manot to patients in hospitals and nursing homes
Dress up in Purim costumes and visit patients at your local hospital
Donate some of the food you receive from mishloach manot to a local food pantry
Pesach
In preparation for Pesach clean the home of someone who is homebound
Arrange a car wash in your synagogue’s parking lot and donate the money to tzedakah
Host a model seder
Research your family history and learn about a story that involves religious freedom
If you are using Pesach cleaning as Spring cleaning as well, donate clothes you no longer wear to a local charitable organization
Prior to the start of Pesach, donate the chametz you are removing from your house to a local food pantry
Invite a family that recently immigrated to the U.S. or moved into your neighborhood to a seder at your home
Organize a free seder in your synagogue
Yom HaShoah
Donate money to an organization that keeps the memory of the Shoah (Holocaust) alive
Attend a Holocaust remembrance ceremony
Visit with members of a senior home and learn from the experiences they share
Learn about people in oppressed nations and what you can do to help
Be sensitive to the needs, thoughts and feelings of others
Yom HaZikaron & Yom HaAtzmaut
Adopt an Israeli soldier and correspond with letters, packages and stories
Adopt a family that has been affected by terror
Have a walk-a-thon to raise funds for Israel
Have a community wide barbecue on Yom Ha’atzmaut in the park
Bring an Israeli vendor to your community and promote buying Israeli goods
Send care packages/pizza to Israeli soldiers
Volunteer for Israeli organizations in Israel
Email the President of the U.S. and voice your support for the state of Israel
Donate money to victims of terror
Send messages to Israeli hospital patients
On your next trip to Israel, donate blood
Wear blue and white
Lag B'Omer
Bring treats and snacks to a bonfire to share with friends
Organize a celebratory bonfire for children in a hospital or seniors living in a nursing facility
Yom Yerushalayim
Show your support for Israel by sending care packages serving in the Israeli army
Write letters to soldiers in Israel with words of encouragement
Become pen-pals with a victim of terror in Israel
This week, buy only Israeli products
Bring Israeli flags to decorate local nursing homes, shelters and senior centers
Start a clothing drive and send the items collected to the less fortunate is Israel
Shavuot
Set up study partners (chavrutot) with people who may be as knowledgeable as you
Focus learning on something relevant and practical to your everyday life
Buy fresh flowers for patients in hospitals and nursing homes
Start a campaign that encourages honoring one’s parents
Send religious articles or books to Jews in the U.S. military
Donate your leftover flowers to shelters, hospitals or nursing homes
Organize Torah study in smaller communities for Jews who don’t have access to such programs
Tisha B'Av
Offer to babysit for children in the afternoon to give their parents a chance to rest
Donate books of Kinot to an organization or people in need
American Holidays
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Volunteer
Be sure to treat all people with respect
Support or volunteer for organization that exercise the belief in equality and civil rights for all
Memorial Day
Volunteer at a cemetery clean-up for fallen soldiers
Donate money to an organization that financially helps families in which one parent is actively serving in the armed forces
Donate comfort items to soldiers serving overseas
Donate Judaic items to Jewish soldiers serving overseas
