When high school begins to wrap up for graduates, many are looking to go to college on scholarships. Some of those scholarships, including the Tennessee Promise, require community service hours to be eligible. Let’s see what you can do to get in those hours. 

Local Pet Adoption Centers 

   Adoption centers often offer volunteer hours for anyone needing community service. Such offers are dog-walking, playing with pets, and cleaning cages. Of course, there are more options at the centers, but those are typically offered first.  

   PAWS, an adoption center near Blackman, has forms to sign up and volunteer.  

Webinars 

   Webinars are online seminars where people can come together and share information. Sometimes, they are prerecorded, but there is still useful information given during the video. 

   Tennessee Achieves (tnAchieves) is offering virtual community service through webinars. They are about colleges and life in college. Students can receive up to an hour of community service per video.  

Soup Kitchens, Food Banks, and Food Pantries 

   Great forms of community service are soup kitchens, food banks, and food pantries. They are centers where food is offered to the hungry. For many, it’s the only time they can get a hot meal. Typically, volunteers can get up to six hours of community service from working at these food centers.  

   Senior Caroline Smith spent some time with the Nashville Rescue Mission, and she said, “The staff takes care of [the people who come by for a meal] and the work they do is so honorable and kind.” She’d love to go back every evening. 

   Another place to help feed the hungry is the Nourish Food Bank off Memorial Blvd. Students at Blackman can volunteer there and at other surrounding Nourish Food banks to give back to their community. 

Litter Clean Up 

   A common type of community service is cleaning up areas around town. It may be at a park, schoolyard, or graveyard. Blackman alumni Matthew McGinnis said he “restored a local family’s cemetery” by “cleaning it up and replacing all the headstones.”  

   There are many places in Murfreesboro to clean up. Outdoor Murfreesboro is a branch of the Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation Department that offers volunteer opportunities. Students can receive two hours of community service per day they volunteer. 

   These are only some of the many forms of community service. However, it’s always great to volunteer to help the community while learning new experiences.