One Summer

A rain garden refers to a planted area that receives water runoff from urban areas like parking lots, walkways, driveways, etc. The water from the area goes into the ground and feeds the plants as opposed to flooding storm drains.

Start a rain garden to encourage water conservation and sustainability in your community space.

People like to chow down at the mall or in the park, and that waste usually gets trashed incorrectly. Start a recycling program at a popular hangout in the following ways:

Contact the Central Office

• Commercial areas like malls have a central office that a security officer can direct you to. Parks and other government spaces are run out of city hall. Call these places and let them know you and friends are volunteering to set up their recycling program.

Cancer is an ever-growing problem that needs as much support as possible to further research. Why not use your talents and raise funds in a creative way?

You've heard of students trashing somebody online—creating Facebook groups or Tumblr pages that bully someone. Be the first to create a gossip site for good. If you wanna combat online bullying, here's what you need to do to create a positive online page or blog about people in your school.

Singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse's death this weekend sparked conversations about what those who loved her could have done to prevent her death. No matter how desperately they might try to control a chaotic situation, friends and family of drug addicts are ultimately incapable of achieving sobriety for the person close to them.

Every animal deserves to be comfortable, including the ones living in animal shelters, waiting to be adopted. Make the animals' cages more comfortable by creating blankets for donations.

Gather your materials.

Collect towels, fleece, or sweatshirts that can serve as blanket material.

Wash them.

You don't want to donate dirty blankets.

Tear 'em up.

Rip the edges of your rectangular or square material into strips.

If you want to help out at a nursing home, ditch the tired card games for once and try out some new activities.

Capture Stories

Go around and write down or record memories from residents. Their stories can around a theme like:

• Your favorite memories of grade school.
• The best first date you ever went on.
• Where you were during a major world event (i.e. Pearl Harbor)

Make a booklet from the stories and distribute copies for residents to read. It'll make entertaining reading for everyone.