Hey everyone, FRC 3320 needs help to brain storm some community service ideas and we were wondering what other teams do to reach out to their community (besides put on demos and mentor FLL teams).
The DiscoBots help run other local robotics tournaments, FLL and VEX mostly.
I have also heard of teams adopting stretches of highway or beaches and doing regular clean ups. Teams have volunteered at homeless shelters or put on free holiday dinners. I have also heard of doing clothing, food or toy drives. Teams have worked with Habitat for Humanity and helped build homes (a way to get experience with tools at the same time you are helping people). I have even heard of teams working to build windmills to help make their communities more sustainable.
Iām sure there are many more options as well.
Sarah,
You should check with Tony with FRC team 418 there in Austin. They have won both the State BEST Award as well as the Chairmanās. I know that they do a lot of service work. They should be able to give you some good suggestions.
This thread has links to more information on Adopt-a-Highway programs:
Adopt-a-Highway is great because you get to give back to your community, and the state advertises your team and FIRST for you, in exchange. Win win. 
Well weāve got ideas of our own that relate to our own teamās obstacles (http://www.safeplace.org/), weāre just curious to what other teams out there everywhere does.
Special Olympics, Adopt-A-Highway, Childrenās Miracle Network Charities, LEGO Drive, Food Drive, Book Drive, x Drive, attending events like Relay for Life, holding events for charities like Extra Life, setting up a water stop at a local marathon or 5/10k, and make sure your team shirts, your robot are there, and FIRSTās name, your team name, and your sponsor names are everywhere.
Goodness, there are thousands of volunteer opportunities out there.
Keep it local is my advice.
Ask at the local food pantry, homeless shelter, town hall/police/fire/ambulance, religious community, hospital, senior citizens center, military base, parks commission, outreach center and so on.
Start out within the teamās comfort zone: If anything is not a good fit for the students/team/parents/community.etc then avoid it, at least for now. I say this because initially the idea of a homeless shelter freaked people out, but slowly they accepted it.
The basic idea is to Help people who need help. In 2007 there was some awful flooding locally, we went to the area and 50 energetic teens helped residents cart ruined stuff from their basements to the dumpster.
The goal is that when the community hears āthat robot teamā, they think good thoughts of them.
For the last two years our team has been doing an annual school supply collection (warning, we live in a rather well to do area. This may not have similar success depending on how wasteful the students in your school systems are)
We collect lightly used school supplies that students would normally be throwing out at end of the year, sort through to make sure taht all are of usable quality, and then donate them to a needy school in the area. Every year we probably collect roughly a quarter ton of usable materials for donation. Great times 
We help our town put on a local festival event. Then we put up our area with little robots and showcase the big bot.
Go and meet the politicians for your area too.
Other than that we have our eyes on STEM curriculum implementation. Itās a challenging goal to have, but after a lot of work over many years we think we have something worthwhile.
Our team built a robot (that looks like the robot in our logo) thatās sole purpose is to make a presence in parades, Relay for Life, even walking dogs at the Humane Society events, etc. We also do things like running food drives at our local FLL events and participating in relay triathlons to benefit Habitat for Humanity.
Really, it depends on your community and your location. For us, things like Humane Society, 4-H, parades, etc. are HUGE, but in other areas, might not be as much. THINK ABOUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOUR COMMUNITY, and see if there are ways in which you can give back that benefit those areasā¦
Hope this helped
Paul,
Thanks for recognizing our LASA Robotics outreach efforts but the M&Ms are busy creating miracles of their own. I canāt think of any better way to talk about, think about, or get excited about outreach than finding out what all the other teams do in the FIRST community. (Iām including FTC and FLL in this - they are amazing.)
One thing that Iām happy about is watching teams like the M&Ms make a difference in our robotics community here in the Austin area, strengthening it with their efforts, their passion, and their understanding of the importance and value of these robotics programs and their impact. Itās a very exciting time in the central Texas area.
Jane
P.S. I do want to acknowledge something that Don said in his post about āthe goal is that when the community hears āthat robot teamā, they think good thoughts of them.ā That is very true. When we visit Helping Hand Home and schools where we hold S.M.A.R.T. Camps, they get excited about the purple team coming and they remember us in the times in-between. Their counselors/teachers tell us stories of the studentsā happy memories. Itās very cool. Itās important to pass those stories on to the new students and the parents on the team who are so valuable in helping make a teamās outreach program possible and sustainable. It grows the bigger picture.
Thanks everyone! This really helps, I wanna show the M&Mās(especially our newbie mentors) that FIRST is more than the robot and that there are plenty of teams that do community service.
and Jane, think we could get our teams to do something together in the future? I wanna start getting our team to learn to interact with other teams cause weāve been confined to ourselves at EMHS but right now weāre recruiting 8th graders, getting ready for TAKS, and āsaving the schoolā.
(PS Good luck at Dallas!)
We work with our County Community Council, they help network organizations with groups that can help provide volunteers or other resources, and with another non-profit group (Partners for Progress) that works to make our area a better place to live by working on specific initiatives each year (Education/STEM is usually one of the focus areas).
Both organizations provide opportunities for us to help the community and get our name out - we are frequently asked to demo for community events with robots and Lego tables because of these connections and weāve participated in working in a soup kitchen, volunteering at FLL and FTC events, flag ceremonies, etc., besides the some 40 demos over the last 3 years.
Maybe your cityās Chamber of Commerce where the business professionals in your area meet would be a good starting point?
At a recent doctor appointment, I was explaining to a nurse how we had just wrapped up ārobot seasonā. She said āI saw a robot group at the county fair last summer, they were called The River City Robots and my son has not stopped talking about that team since we were there, do you know them?ā
Of course I was tickled that it was our team - you just never know how you will impact or spark the imagination of someone - at any age.
Good luck finding the right opportunities for your team!
DeAnna
Letās get together and brainstorm when things settle down. Good luck w/TAKS, recruitment, and āsaving the schoolā. It is worth saving.
Thanks for the best wishes for Dallas.
Jane