Community Service - Eternal Gems Inc.

Community service plays a vital role in enhancing personal development for individuals. Below, you’ll find a selection of nonprofit organizations in the Houston area, as well as online opportunities, where high school students can make a meaningful impact through volunteering.

Be My Eyes

Be My Eyes is a great way for students interested in the health industry to get community service hours online. It connects volunteers with blind and low-vision people through a video app to provide visual assistance with everything from checking expiration dates to distinguishing colors to reading instructions.

Love For Our Elders

Many elderly people suffer from loneliness, as current Yale student Jacob Cramer discovered while volunteering at his local senior living community, with several residents telling him that he was their only visitor. He started Love For Our Elders as a result, which gathers letters for seniors who need encouragement. Students can earn verified volunteer hours by writing letters, starting a chapter at their school, or hosting a letter drive.

Translators Without Borders

Translators Without Borders is perfect for students who have fluency in a second language. Volunteers can perform online community service by translating texts for a variety of international organizations focused on crisis relief, health, and education. To date, the organization has translated more than 80 million words!

TeensGive

TeensGive makes tutoring easy for students in grades 9-12. TeensGive removes the time-consuming (and often tricky) travel component of tutoring, pairing students with online tutors. They also break down barriers by targeting the communities that most need help—often underserved schools, homeless children, and former gang members trying to catch up.

Best Buddies

Best buddies is a volunteer program focused on improving the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. After volunteers are matched with their buddy based on common interest, they are requested to email their buddy once every 2 weeks to keep communication lines open.

Teenangles

Teenangels is an awesome opportunity for students ages 13 to 18 who dream of having a job in cybersecurity, or are simply interested in computers. Teenangels volunteers run programs in schools that teach teachers, parents, and kids about the responsible and safe use of the internet—they’ve even presented before Congress!

TechSoup

TechSoup allows high school students to share their technology tips and advice in forums. The nonprofit sector uses this information to implement technology more effectively within their companies to have a greater reach in their communities.

National Sexual Assault Online Hotline

A volunteer opportunity for students 18 years or older interested in completing a training course that will help them assist victims of sexual assault online

Adopt a Nursing Home

Nursing home residents often struggle with their emotional and mental health. A solution from the Texas Health Care Association, Adopt a Nursing Home, connects volunteers with residents and staff at nursing homes. The program gives volunteers the opportunity to send online messages and physical letters to nursing home residents to help keep spirits high.

Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com works with volunteers to index stories and history that would otherwise be lost. High school students who are passionate about genealogy can volunteer to help others discover their personal history.

Citizen Scholar

Citizen Scholar is an interesting online community service opportunity for history buffs who would like to work with the Smithsonian Institute, the world’s largest museum and research complex. This organization assists in the transcription of historic documents and papers of prominent Americans, along with records from the Smithsonian’s scientific collection to make them more accessible to researchers and the public.

Missing Maps

Missing maps recruits volunteers interested in tracing satellite imagery, adding street names and neighborhoods in efforts to provide communities that lack maps with directions.