One way to make Thanksgiving really meaningful is to DO something about being grateful, and turn that gratitude into service for others. This can also make a great dinner table discussion- either planning service ideas with one another or debriefing about service that you have given recently. We can sit around and chat about how grateful we are for the things and people in our lives, but when we turn that gratitude outward and lift others, we give that gratitude a chance to deepen and grow. Here are a few lists of service ideas that you can pull from, or let them inspire you to come up with your own ideas!

Thanksgiving Service Ideas

• Volunteer at a soup kitchen.

• Leave a surprise in the mailbox for your mail carrier.

• Donate food to your local food bank.

• Rake your neighbor’s leaves.

• Make get well cards and take them to the hospital.

• Make Blessing Bags.

• Collect and donate old books to the library.

• Tape change to a parking meter or washing machine at a laundromat.

• Visit and welcome a new family in the neighborhood.

• Buy someone’s groceries.

• Write thank you notes to teachers.

• Donate a turkey to a family in need.

• Do a chore for a family member.

• Deliver meals to the elderly around you who live alone.

• Put together a care package for a deployed soldier.

• Bake a pie and give it away.

• Offer free babysitting to a young family so they can go on a date.

• Invite a lonely friend, neighbor, or relative to your Thanksgiving dinner.

• Pay for the person behind you at the drive-thru.

• Bring balloons to patients at the local children’s hospital.

• Donate old games and toys to a women’s shelter.

• Deliver treats to your local fire or police station.

• Take a friend out to lunch.

• Pick up trash at a local park.

• Write thank you notes to the doctors and nurses at the local hospital.

I hope you try some of these ideas to lift those around you, and make you feel more grateful for what you have while you’re at it!