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March 2021 - Oakland/East Bay 
Wish List Items

Operation Dignity

Date/Time: Ongoing needs; email Katie Derrig, kderrig@operationdignity.org to arrange a donation drop-off.

Location: 3850 San Pablo Ave., Suite 102, Emeryville

Ages: Everyone can help

Time Commitment: Varies

Operation Dignity serves homeless and at-risk veterans, their families, and the communities they live in. We meet their immediate and long-term needs by providing emergency, transitional, and permanent housing; comprehensive outreach and support services; and a strong peer community, inclusive of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. We always need these wish list items to help keep the veterans and others in our programs safe, warm, fed, and on their way to a new home. You can also purchase items directly from our Amazon wish list.

Contact: Katie Derrig, kderrig@operationdignity.org or call 510.287.8465
Street To Beach Cleanups - Earth Heroes Needed in Oakland!

Pacific Beach Coalition

Date/Time: Your neighborhood or community. It can be around your neighborhood, at the beach, in a needy area, or anywhere actually. You could even "adopt" a specific location in need and care for it on a regular basis.

Location: Your own location

Ages: Everyone can help

Time Commitment: Varies

Our goal is to get as many Earth Heroes as possible to clean up a location of their liking and inspire others, while staying safe and respecting County and State orders. Neighborhood and street cleanups are fun and rewarding outdoor activities for you and your family. Picking up litter from the streets keeps it from flowing into the ocean via our storm drains. We are now finding lots of litter, plastic bags, wrappers, disposable gloves, masks and food containers on our beaches and throughout the neighborhoods. It is very easy! Make sure you have all your supplies ready, and go out! Don’t forget to let us know how much trash you collected so that we can add it to our total. Remember every single piece counts!

How you can help:

Follow these 4 steps to have a safe and fun cleanup:
  1. Go on our website to sign the online waiver
  2. Grab your supplies (bucket, gloves, pick up sticks)
  3. Go outside near your home
  4. Record the trash you got via the Clean Swell app (or more ways to log the trash on our website)

If you do a cleanup, you are doing it on your own accord and personally accepting any and all risks.

Check In On Your Neighbors

Engage CA

Date/Time: Ongoing

Location: Your neighborhood

Ages: Everyone can help

Time Commitment: Varies

Check in on your neighbors to make sure they have access to food and necessary supplies. By signing up, you are pledging to do this simple yet impactful task. Remember, limiting in-person contact is important, so call or text if you can. If you want to check on a neighbor and don’t have their number, you can talk through the door. Drop off a treat, a book or just a nice note. We'll email a sample door hanger once you sign up. Don’t forget to post your stories on social media using the hashtag #CaliforniansforAll.

Contact: The website has many resources for various needs you or your neighbors may encounter.
Donate Mother’s and Father’s Day Wish List Items for Foster Care Youth (ages 18-24)

First Place

Date/Time: Ongoing needs

Location: First Place for Youth, 426 17th Street, Suite 100, Oakland

Ages: Everyone can help

Time Commitment: Varies

First Place for Youth helps foster youth build the skills they need to make successful transitions to self-sufficiency and responsible adult lives. Whether they’re joining First Place from a group home, foster homes, shelters, or from living on the street, our program participants rarely have more than a small bag of belongings when they come to us. Nearly 20% of the young people we serve are parents who want to create better lives for themselves and their children. We are currently collecting items for Mother’s and Father’s Day baskets to honor our parenting youth. Visit our website to view and shop our Amazon Wish List for specific items needed or to make a tax-deductible contribution to support our program services. Gift cards for transportation, food, and local businesses are also welcome! Contact Lauren Chiarulli for more information.

Contact: Lauren Chiarulli at lchiarulli@firstplaceforyouth.org
Host a DIY Pajama and Book Drive

The Pajama Program

Date/Time: Ongoing

Location: Your home or community

Ages: Everyone can help

Time Commitment: Varies

The Pajama Program is a non-profit that provides new pajamas and new books to children in need through a nationwide network of service agencies. Snuggling up in cozy, new pajamas with their very own new book, gives these children a secure and nurturing "good night" at bedtime. We can never have enough pajamas and books! Your family can help by starting your own Pajama and Book Drive. Remember to be safe! Create a contactless drop-off area, and communicate with your donors via phone or email. Invite everyone to purchase pajamas and books online and have them delivered to you for collection or identify places in your community where people can safely drop-off or mail the new pajamas and books. Here are our pajama and book donation guidelines:

  • Pajamas: Must be new and unused and a complete set; sizes through adult XXXL are welcome
  • Books: Must be new; click here for details about the types of books we accept.

Once your drive is complete, report the donation through the online form to learn where to send your donation. The Pajama Project cannot provide pickup service for donations. We will contact you within 7 days to arrange a drop-off location. You will either be connected with a local Chapter President to make the arrangements, or receive drop-off or shipping instructions from the National Office.

Contact: info@pajamaprogram.org, 212.716.9757. Click here to find out if there is a local chapter near you.
Warm Feet for Warriors

Soldiers' Angels

Date/Time: The sock collection will run from February 1 – April 30. (Don’t worry if your socks arrive a little before the 1st or a little after the 30th– we anticipate that most people will end their collections on the 30th and the socks will arrive in the 2-3 weeks following.)

Location: Please mail your collected socks to:
Soldiers Angels’ – Warm Feet for Warriors
2895 NE Loop 410, Suite 107
San Antonio, TX 78218

Ages: Everyone can participate

Time Commitment: Varies

One of the items that is most requested from service members and veterans is socks! Just think of how nice a brand-new pair of socks feel when you pull them on! Soldiers’ Angels wants to help keep our troops and veterans’ toes feeling toasty, and you can help! Start a sock collection drive and send us new socks in all colors and sizes in their original packaging. We will distribute the socks to veterans in VA Hospitals and include in our care packages to deployed service members. Our goal for 2021 is to collect 10,000 pairs of socks for our deployed service members and veterans. You can buy any adult size socks. We have service members and veterans of all sizes and genders, so as long as they are adult socks, we’ll find the right person for the sock after we have them! As you will see on our Amazon Wish List, black is preferred, but really any color is fine! These socks are not meant to be used as uniform socks by our deployed service members. The military has pretty strict regulations when it comes to military uniforms and every branch is different. These socks will be used by military for time out of uniform. For veterans in hospitals, the color doesn’t matter at all, but hospitals require that patients have non-skid socks. Check out the Soldiers Angels’ – Warm Feet for Warriors page for more information about how to participate.

Create a Project

Good Deeds Day 2021

Date/Time(s):
  • March 29, Project registration deadline
  • April 11, International Good Deeds Day

Location: Your home or community

Ages: Everyone is welcome to participate

Time Commitment: Varies, depending on your project

Good Deeds Day is a global movement of doing good. Throughout the world families, neighbors, schools, clubs, companies, and communities come together to do a good deed project. Does your family have an idea of a Good Deeds Day project for your community? Or you can browse their project ideas page for ideas. We encourage individuals to recruit colleagues, friends and family, and plan a project as a group!


Did you know that along with DGT's family-friendly volunteer opportunities every month, we also offer a monthly newsletter and parenting-focused blog? Find them on our website, or better yet, subscribe now to have these tools, tips, and important resources sent to your inbox. Be sure to also share your favorite posts and tips with big-hearted families you know.
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This list was compiled by Doing Good Together™ (www.doinggoodtogether.org)
When calling to volunteer for any of the opportunities listed above, please let the coordinator know you found it through this listing. You are encouraged to ask any questions you may have of the sponsoring organization before committing to a project.
Disclaimer: This list is provided as a service to families. Inclusion of organizations in this listing does not imply affiliation, endorsement or quality assurance on the part of Doing Good Together.™ Doing Good Together™ bears no responsibility whatsoever for the activities and actions of the listed organizations.

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