100 Ways to Help Others Even If You’re Not Rich

Published January 8, 2024

When discussing helping others, we usually think of giving them material things or donating cash. But there are many ways to help others that don’t involve spending money.

Helping people isn’t just for those with millions in their bank accounts.

Every one of us has something that we can offer to others. Be it your time, your knowledge, or your ability to crack some excellent jokes – all of these can go a long way in making people’s lives much less challenging. Imagine how different the world would be if we all strive to help one another.

How To Help Others

If you’re wondering how you can serve others in your little way, here are 100 ways to help others even if you’re not rich:

1. Donate old clothes and shoes.
2. Be a patient listener.
3. Donate blood.
4. Volunteer at a local homeless shelter or soup kitchen.
5. Compliment someone to increase their self-worth.
6. Spread positivity.
7. Be on time.
8. Congratulate someone when they do something courageous.
9. Pick up trash in public areas, even if it’s not yours.
10. Teach children to be kind to everyone.
11. Share your knowledge and expertise.
12. Believe that there’s goodness in everyone.
13. Keep your word.
14. Buy local and support small businesses.
15. Volunteer at the pound or animal shelter.
16. Park your car correctly. Make sure it won’t cause traffic or impede pedestrian movement.
17. Respect everyone’s beliefs.
18. Understand instead of passing judgment.
19. Let others cut in front of you in traffic.
20. Thank the people who rarely get gratitude, like the service workers, housekeeping staff, and security personnel.
21. Avoid single-use plastics or styrofoam as much as possible.
22. Clean up your mess to lessen the cleaning staff’s work.
23. Help someone put together a resume to find a job.
24. Talk to the people nobody bothers to talk to, like the cleaning staff, the grocery bagger, etc.
25. Let the person with an armful of groceries go in front of you in line.
26. Help an elderly or disabled neighbor with yard work.
27. Give directions to someone who is lost.
28. Return your or other people’s grocery cart so the store staff won’t have to.
29. Give away extra fruits and vegetables you harvested from your garden.
30. Say only kind words, especially on the internet.
31. Offer your bus or subway seat to a pregnant woman or the elderly.
32. Share your food with someone who can’t afford a meal.
33. Give restaurant coupons and vouchers to poor and homeless people.
34. Give away seedlings and cuttings from your yard.
35. Lend a hand to someone in a wheelchair.
36. Donate books you have already read to a public library, an orphanage, or any local charity.
37. Make new neighbors feel welcome.
38. Use your social media to give voice to the voiceless.
39. Comfort someone who just lost a loved one.
40. Encourage someone who’s just been through a big disappointment.
41. Organize a garage sale and donate the proceeds to charity.
42. Bring food to a sick friend.
43. Smile. You never know who’s day you brighten with your smile.
44. Visit a nursing home and talk to residents who don’t get visits from family and friends.
45. Give the coupons you won’t use to people who need them the most.
46. Offer to run errands for your elderly or disabled neighbors.
47. Practice proper waste segregation.
48. Offer to babysit kids for a single parent struggling with work and childcare.
49. Hold the door for someone else.
50. Send an encouraging note to someone you know who’s struggling.
51. Give your used but still functional luggage to foster kids. When moving from one foster home to another, they often have nothing to pack their clothes.
52. If you can, help someone trying to reach something high on a shelf in the grocery store.
53. Donate old coats and blankets to local shelters.
54. If you go to a grocery store or pharmacy, check with the neighbors if they need something to pick up.
55. Collect stuffed animals from family and friends and send them to the children’s ward at your local hospital.
56. Collect used baby clothes from people you know and donate them to a women’s shelter.
57. Teach your children the importance of giving back.
58. Give credit where credit is due.
59. Help stray animals find their forever home.
60. Never make fun of someone else’s misfortune.
61. Donate your kid’s old bikes to children who must walk to school.
62. Practice compassion. Put yourself in other people’s shoes.
63. Talk to people who are having a hard time socializing.
64. Forgive the people who have wronged you even before they asked for it.
65. Be polite to everyone.
66. Leave a newspaper or magazine you’ve read in a coffee house or the bus stop so someone can read it after you.
67. Don’t badmouth someone, even your enemies.
68. Ask for forgiveness from someone you’ve hurt.
69. Conserve water and energy so other people can use it, too.