The Eyeglass Drive is a community project that concentrates on providing people from developing countries with used eyeglasses from the U.S. According to the Eyeglass Drive project, the U.S. disposes more than four million eyeglasses in a year while developing countries have a billion people that need eyeglasses, but cannot afford them. Students put up eyeglass bins in their schools and spread the word about the campaign through local advertisements, press releases and community activities like car washes. The Eyeglass Drive campaign can be performed by any school in the U.S. A school representative must contact Unite for Sight, which is the organization that started this community project.
This Learn and Serve Project focuses on teaching students to learn the basics of first aid training so that they can be prepared in case of emergencies. Together with the Red Cross, high school students within the community train and gain certification in first aid and CPR. Once the students are certified, encourage them to visit local elementary schools to share what they have learned.
Teen CERT Training teaches the local Youth in Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) courses by working together with the local first responders and Red Cross first aid teams. The youth participants participate in drills and training at local elementary schools to share their knowledge. Participants who graduate on the CERT courses are invited to join city planning dealing with community activities like parades, programs, festivals and emergency responses.
The Community of Caring Project is a very broad project that can be done by any group of kids or students within a community. This project was initiated by a group of kids in Ogden City, Utah, where they improved a local soccer field by repairing and refurnishing the benches around it. There are many things that students can do to improve their surroundings and the community. The key in executing this project is to communicate with the city government to get permission and support. Some projects related to Community of Caring are cleaning local parks and adding benches and planting trees or improving public library services by donating books, upgrading their equipment and raising funds for improvement.