Small communities seem to face a constant struggle everyday. We all need to come together as a community in order for our communities to grow and stay strong. Here are some ways that you can help.

Volunteer Your Time. Whether you are young or old, volunteering your time is something easy and very beneficial that you can do to help your community. Ways to volunteer your time could be as simple as cleaning up your neighborhood, reading to children in a classroom or helping at your local community center or senior citizen center. Volunteering your time to help your community is beneficial not only to your community but it builds character in younger people.

Organize An Awareness Event. This can encompass any part of your community. It can be as small as a benefit for a local community member in need of funding for medical or crisis relief. It can be as big as gathering the businesses in your community for a local party in the park or indoor event center. Things to focus on are getting your community recognized for what it has to offer and bring people to your community.

Head A Project. Talking to your local Chamber of Commerce can lead you in the right direction for making a big city-wide difference in your community. Do a city-wide poll about what people think that their community needs and work to make it happen. Get in contact with your community Development Authority.

Host A Week Long Food Drive. Set up a table at the local supermarket and have a week long food drive. The best time to do this is near the holiday that people make a big meal on. For example Christmas and Thanksgiving. Ask for only one non-perishable food item to help make someones holiday by being able to give them their holiday meal. Once that is done, sort the food into meal size ranging from three to six people and deliver the food to people in your community that are in need for the holidays. You can most likely find this out by talking with your local food bank about helping out and also the Department of Public Health and Human Services. They can usually give you information or head you in the right direction.

Toys For A Cause. Another way to help people in your community is by donating all your extra toys for children in need. Many kids don't get a thing for Christmas while many get everything. Help out by giving your extra or lightly used toys to an organization that does a Toys For Tots or organize one yourself. A good way to gather extra toys is by talking to the local businesses about setting up a box or crate in their business that let's people drop off their extras and have you pick them up once a day or twice or more a week. Businesses that work great for this are grocery stores, local department stores or even your local Boys and Girls Club.

Speaking Out. If you feel that there is a need in your community or you have an idea that you think is worth trying in your community you should speak out. Great ways to get involved are by going to your city council meetings and voicing your concerns and discuss the type of change you would like to see in your community. You could also do research about your ideas so you are able to share, with the city coucil, they ways that the city could go about implementing these changes.

There are many things throughout your community that you can do to make a difference. The only thing you really need to do to make a difference is to be motivated and try.

小社區(qū)似乎每天都面臨著不斷的競(jìng)爭。為了幫助社區(qū)成長壯大，我們都需要團(tuán)結(jié)一致。下面的一些方法對(duì)你會(huì)有幫助。

 獻(xiàn)出你的時(shí)間。不管年輕還是年老，騰出時(shí)間為你的社區(qū)做點(diǎn)事情，這是很容易的，而且很有益處。你可以采用這些簡單的方法：比如為你的鄰居打掃衛(wèi)生，在教室里給孩子朗讀，或者在本地的社區(qū)中心或老年服務(wù)中心效勞。騰出時(shí)間來服務(wù)你的社區(qū)，不僅讓社區(qū)得到幫助，而且對(duì)塑造年輕人的性格大有裨益。

 組織一次宣傳活動(dòng)。宣傳活動(dòng)可以包括你社區(qū)的任何部分，小到為需要醫(yī)療或危機(jī)救濟(jì)基金的社區(qū)成員提供服務(wù)，大到將社區(qū)企業(yè)集中起來，在公園或室內(nèi)活動(dòng)中心舉行一次活動(dòng)。核心問題是讓社區(qū)明白它能提供何種服務(wù)，并吸引人們來你的社區(qū)。

 負(fù)責(zé)一個(gè)項(xiàng)目。與本地商會(huì)進(jìn)行一次對(duì)話，可以讓你明白做些什么能讓你的社區(qū)魅力非凡。在全市范圍內(nèi)進(jìn)行一次調(diào)查，了解人們認(rèn)為社區(qū)需要什么，并努力使之成為現(xiàn)實(shí)。請(qǐng)與你的社區(qū)發(fā)展局保持聯(lián)系。

 主辦為期一周的食物募捐活動(dòng)。在本地超市搭一個(gè)募捐臺(tái)，進(jìn)行為期一周的食物募捐活動(dòng)。最佳時(shí)機(jī)是在假日來臨前，人們就要享受饕餮大餐的時(shí)候，比如圣誕節(jié)和感恩節(jié)。要提供不易腐爛的食物，幫助人們度過假日好時(shí)光。然后根據(jù)食量多少，以三至六人為一組對(duì)食物進(jìn)行分類，并提供給社區(qū)里假期需要食物的人。通過與本地的食物銀行以及公眾健康和人類服務(wù)部進(jìn)行對(duì)話，討論如何幫助人們度過難關(guān)，對(duì)你可能很有幫助。他們通常能為你提供信息或指明方向。

 將玩具當(dāng)成事業(yè)。另一種服務(wù)社區(qū)的方法是為兒童捐出你多余的玩具。很多孩子圣誕節(jié)有玩具，而很多孩子卻沒有。將你多余的或沒怎么用過的玩具捐給某個(gè)“為了孩子的玩具”組織，或者由你自己組織捐贈(zèng)活動(dòng)。收集玩具的一個(gè)好方法是與本地企業(yè)進(jìn)行洽談，在他們的企業(yè)搭建一個(gè)盒子或者木箱，讓人們將多余的玩具放在里面，每天清點(diǎn)一次，或者每周清點(diǎn)兩次或多次。做這項(xiàng)重要工作的企業(yè)一般是雜貨店，本地百貨商店，甚至是本地的男孩和女孩俱樂部。

 說出你的想法。如果你認(rèn)為社區(qū)有需要，或你有值得一試的想法，就應(yīng)該大膽說出來。有個(gè)好辦法：去你的城市議會(huì)會(huì)議，表達(dá)出你的關(guān)注，并討論你想看到的社區(qū)變化。你可以好好研究一下你的想法，讓你能與市議會(huì)分享。他們會(huì)列舉出一些可行的方法，來實(shí)現(xiàn)這些變化。

 在社區(qū)你可以大有作為。你唯一要做的就是放手去做，這會(huì)讓你與眾不同。