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

Published Nov 28, 2021

When we talk of helping others, the first thing we usually think of is giving them material things or making cash donations. But there are a lot of ways to help others that don’t involve spending money.

Helping people isn’t just for those with millions in their bank accounts. Each and every one of us has something that we can offer to others. Be it your time, your knowledge, or your ability to crack some really good jokes – all of these can go a long way in making people’s lives a lot less hard. Just imagine how different the world would be if all of us strive to help one another.

If you’re wondering how you can serve others in your own 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 did 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 properly. 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 the 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 that 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 own 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 whose 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’re not going to 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 who’s struggling with work and childcare.
49. Hold the door for someone else.
50. Send an encouraging note to someone you know who’s having a difficult time.
51. Give your used but still functional luggage to foster kids. They often don’t have anything to pack their clothes in when moving from one foster home to another.
52. If you can, help someone who is trying to reach something high on a shelf in the grocery store.