Service Projects & Volunteer Opportunities
Volunteer registration is open for from February 9 - March 6.
UNI's Day of Service is in partnership with the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley.
The first 500 volunteers to register receive a FREE T-SHIRT!
Thank you to:
- R.J. McElroy Trust & Veridian Credit Union whose support help make these service projects possible.
- St. Stephens the Witness Catholic Student Center, ThreeHouse Collaborative Campus Ministries, & Spiritual Leaders Association for sponsoring the food packing project.
- Servepro, Young Plumbing & Heating, Ashely Furniture & Foster’s Mattress for helping deliver beds to those in need.
- See What I Mean Consulting for their leadership and facilitation with the Panther Innovation session.
Volunteer Opportunities (Students, Faculty & Staff Only)
Early registration is encouraged as volunteer opportunities will fill up and close.
- Only students not already doing a project in their classes, with their department, student clubs, or other groups are invited to sign up to volunteer to maximize participation.
- Students are encouraged to communicate with their instructors early and plan accordingly.
Panther Innovation Lab: Build What’s Next
Partner: Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley, Grow Cedar Valley, Community Mainstreet, Experience Waterloo
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm
On Campus
Click here to register & learn more about this opportunity.
Spring Cleaning - Youth Art Team
Volunteers will assist with spring cleaning at YAT "headquarters"!
Partner: Youth Art Team
Time: 1:00 - 3:30pm
Off Campus
Spruce up Historic Homes and Grounds - Grout Museum
Volunteers will help clean and organize spaces in two historic houses as well as help clean up grounds around the perimeters of the museums.
Partner: Grout Museum
Time: 10:00am - 12:30pm
Off Campus
Session 1: Enhancing Spaces for Veterans - Americans for Independent Living & CV Men's Shed
Volunteers will work alongside, and guided by volunteers with Cedar Valley Men's Shed. Together they will build a
desk and shelf by the donation, shelf, a shoe rack and the structure for collecting pop cans.
Partners: Americans For Independent Living & Cedar Valley Men's Shed
Time: 9:00 - 11:00am
Off Campus
Session 1: Click here to register & learn more about this opportunity.
Session 2: Enhancing Spaces for Veterans - Americans for Independent Living & CV Men's Shed
UNI students will work alongside, and guided by volunteers with Cedar Valley Men's Shed. Together they will build the desk and shelf by the donation, shelf, a shoe rack and the structure for collecting pop cans.
Time: 1:00 to 3:00pm
Off Campus
Session 2: Click here to register & learn more about this opportunity.
Volunteer Reception Center Practice - Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley
Assist AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP program practice their Volunteer Reception Center setup drills.
Partner: Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm
On Campus
Prep Building Grounds for Summer - Boys & Girls Clubs Teen & Educational Center
Volunteers will help us till the garden and spread compost, and clear weeds around the building.
Partner: Boys and Girls Club Teen & Education Center
Time: 11:00am - 1:30pm
Off Campus
Helping with Various Projects - Boys and Girls Clubs of the Cedar Valley
Ready to make a big impact in just a few hours? Join us for a hands-on volunteer day at the club where you’ll help spruce things up inside and out.
Partners: Boys and Girls Club of the Cedar Valley
Time: 10:30am - 12:00pm
Off Campus
Help Run Activities and Clean Up - Elk Run Heights Boys & Girls Club
Volunteers will help lead fun outdoor or gym activities, tidy up the playground and outdoor areas, and pull weeds and vines to keep the building looking great. It’s a great mix of movement, teamwork, and making a visible difference!
Partner: Elk Run Heights Boys & Girls Club
Time: 4:00 - 5:30pm
Off Campus
Painting & Remodeling Apartments & Hallways - New Aldaya
Volunteers will be assisting with painting apartments and hallways throughout the facility and potentially remodeling projects.
Partner: New Aldaya
Time: 12:30 - 2:30pm
Off Campus
Session 1: Help with Athletic Events for Adult Special Olympics - YMCA & Goodwill
Volunteers will help facilitate 4 athletic opportunities for adult Special Olympics athletes in Basketball Skill, Bocce Ball, Football Skills, and Track and Field.
Partner: YMCA & Goodwill
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm
Off Campus
Spring Cleaning - Salvation Army
Volunteers will assist in cleaning spring cleaning at the Salvation Army.
Partner: Salvation Army
Time: 1:00 - 3:00pm
Off Campus
Garden Beautification - North Star Community Services
Volunteers will join the green team and help do landscaping including removing and replacing old mulch and planting shrubs and flowers in front of their building.
Partner: North Star Community Services
Off Campus
Time: 10:30am - 12:30pm
We Want Your Feedback - Cedar Valley Arboretum and Botanic Gardens
An online event to gather information on best ways for the Arboretum to market to and connect with a younger demographic. Participants will be emailed a Zoom link.
Partner: Cedar Valley Arboretum and Botanic Gardens
Time: 10:30 - 11:30am
Online
Session 1: Food Packing - Meals From the Heartland
Meal packing event to help feed the hungry throughout the world. Meals will be delivered around the world, wherever people are undernourished or starving.
Partner: St. Stephens, ThreeHouse, Campus Spiritual Association Leaders
Time: 10:00 - 11:30am
On Campus
Session One: Click here to register & learn more about this opportunity.
Session 2: Food Packing - Meals From the Heartland
Meal packing event to help feed the hungry throughout the world. Meals will be delivered around the world, wherever people are undernourished or starving.
Partner: St. Stephens, ThreeHouse, Campus Spiritual Association Leaders
Time: 1:00 - 2:30pm
On Campus
Session Two: Click here to register & learn more about this opportunity.
Support a Community Art Project - Youth Art Team
Volunteers will assist with tasks such as: drilling pilot holes into wood, sanding wood, moving wood, painting small pieces of wood, and/or moving wooden sculptures.
Partner: Youth Art Team
Time: 1:00 - 3:30pm
Off Campus
Sprucing Up the Arboretum - Cedar Valley Arboretum and Botanic Gardens
Volunteers will be helping in the gardens with Spring clean-up including picking up fallen branches and replacing benches and picnic tables.
Partner: Cedar Valley Arboretum and Botanic Gardens
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm
Off Campus
Garden Support - CEEE
Volunteers will help clean, set up, and plant seeds for the SPROUT Garden behind the CEEE.
Partner: Center for Energy and Environmental Education
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm
On Campus
Motivational Signs - Gamma Phi Beta
Volunteers will make encouraging and motivating signs for girls who are participating in Girls On The Run. These signs will be used during their practice 5K in May.
Partner: Gamma Phi Beta
Time: 2:00 - 4:30pm
On Campus
House of Hope Support - Alpha Sigma Tau
Volunteers will be making milestone cards, making games for kids, and packing the bundles of needed items together.
Partner: Alpha Sigma Tau
Time: 2:30 - 4:00pm
On Campus
Food Pantry Support - Hope City Church
Volunteers will help at the Cedar Valley Dream Center/Hope City Church- Pantry and will help assist clients, stock pantry items and organize items.
Partner: Hope City Church
Time: 4:00 - 6:00pm
Off Campus
Ronald McDonald House - Alpha Delta Pi
Volunteers will host a drive for supplies and make goody-bags for Ronald McDonald House Charities and families staying at the houses.
Partner: Alpha Delta Pi
On Campus
South Campus Cleanup Effort - Iowa Waste Reduction Center
Assist in cleaning up South Campus. Volunteers will be meeting in the Business and Community Services Building parking lot at 1:00pm.
Partner: Iowa Waste Reduction Center
Time: 1:00 - 3:30pm
On Campus
Make friendship bracelets & cards for kids - House of Hope
Volunteers will make friendship bracelets and/or homemade cards for young girls at House of Hope. Additionally, used/new winter clothing, menstrual product, toiletries, etc. will be collected.
Partner: Gems for Girls & House of Hope
Time: 1:00 - 3:00pm
On Campus
Create Care & Wellness Packages - Health and Family Services Club
Volunteers will be creating care & wellness packages to be distributed to local community organizations during National Home Visiting Week.
Time: 4:00 - 6:00pm
On Campus
Session 2: Help with Athletic Events for Adult Special Olympics - YMCA & Goodwill
Volunteers will help facilitate 4 athletic opportunities for adult Special Olympics athletes in Basketball Skill, Bocce Ball, Football Skills, and Track and Field.
Partner: YMCA & Goodwill
Time: 1:00 - 3:00pm
Off Campus
This volunteer opportunity is full.
Cleaning, Organizing, & Playground activities - House of Hope
Volunteers will assist in cleaning/staging an apartment to welcome a new family, organizing donations, and playground activities with youth of House of Hope clients.
Partner: House of Hope
Time: 11:00am - 1:00pm
Off Campus
This volunteer opportunity is full.
Book Drive - Friends of the Library
Volunteers are asked to bring a new or gently used books or donations. Volunteers will help box up books for donation and distribution.
Partner: Friends of the Library
Time: 4:00 - 6:00pm
On Campus
This volunteer opportunity is full.
Spring Newsletter Mailing Prep- Cedar Falls Historical Society
Volunteers will be folding, sealing, and labeling spring newsletters which will be mailed later that week.
Partner: Cedar Falls Historical Society
Time: 10:00am - 12:00pm
Off Campus
This volunteer opportunity is full.
Green Dot Training- Office of Civil Rights Compliance
Volunteers will participate in Green Dot training. This training teaches students, faculty and staff to be aware of potential violence around them and provides skills, strategies and tactics to use the power of peer influence to intervene appropriately and safely in high-risk situations.
Partner: Office of Civil Rights Compliance
Time: 10:00 - 11:00am
On Campus
Blood Drive - LifeServe Blood Center & UNI Nursing Program
Volunteers will give blood at a drive hosted by UNI Nursing faculty with the assistance of nursing students. Location ITTC Room 328. Registration is preferred, walk-ins welcome.
Partner: LifeServe Blood Center, UNI Nursing Program
Time: 9:00am - 2:00pm
On Campus: ITTC Room 328
Donate Single Bed Sheets and/or a bed. - Athletics & Love INC.
UNI athletes are partnering with Love INC to deliver 150 beds to families in need. Help them hit their 150 bed goal and adopt a bed or us provide sheets with every bed. You can order sheets from Amazon with a location for delivery already provided. You can also drop sheets off in the Human Performance Center (HPC) room 107, 9am - 4:00 weekdays. New sheets only please.
Partner: Athletics & Love INC.
Drop Off Times: 9:00am - 4:00pm
Location: HPC 107
Free Concerts Hosted by UNI's School of Music
Free & open to the public.
Join the UNI School of Music for the following evening concerts on April 8.
6 pm - Trumpet Studio Recital - Davis Hall
7:30 pm - Concert Band - Great Hall
7:30 pm - Student Recital - Go Benesh, Saxophone - Bengtson
8 pm - Student Recital - McCaffrey Brandt, Double Bass - Davis
Click here to view the full calendar for the School of Music.
Hearst Lecture - Gabby Giffords - Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Free & open to the public.
Hearst Lecture - Former U.S. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her longtime speech-language pathologist, Dr. Fabi Hirsch Kruse will reflect on Giffords’ recovery from a traumatic brain injury, highlighting the role of speech-language therapy – and resilience – in reclaiming communication. The event is .
Date: April 8, 2026
Time: 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Location: Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center.
Registration is required: Click here to register.
Business Etiquette from around the world
UNI students host International Business Etiquette Fair - learn about business etiquette from around the world. Students interested in presenting contact Chris Schrage (schragec@uni.edu). Open to public 10:00am - 2:00pm Curris Business Building Hall of Flags.
Partner: International Club of Business Students
Date: April 8, 2026
Time: 10:00am - 2:00pm
Location: Curris Business Building Hall of Flags
Tax Assistance - VITA
Providing free basic income tax preparation and electronic filing services to qualified individuals.
Partner: UNI Accounting Class
On Campus
Stage Reading of August Wilson Play
Free * open to the public. Audience needed for reading with Q & A to following
Time: 5:30 - 8:00pm
Location: Maucker Union Upper Level Conference Room
Closed
These service projects are not available for general volunteer registration. If your group is planning a service project and you have not already done so, please register your project here. We will add your project to the list and celebrate your work
Migrant Education Program
Students enrolled in the Early Childhood Curriculum course will partner with the Migrant Education Program (MEP) to package over 300 educational tool kits for Local Operating Agencies (LOAs), representing 15 directly funded school districts. The kits will be distributed to families in support of the course-hosted online event, Where Learning Begins: Families, Play, and Preschool, providing resources and strategies to support learning through play at home.
Partner: Local Operating Agencies
Cleaning Up the Community - Kinesiology & Athletic Training
Students in the Department of Kinesiology and Athletic Training will clean up trails and outdoor facilities around the Cedar Valley
Partner: Department of Kinesiology and Athletic Training
Mapping Routes for City, Trails, and UNI Clean Up
Students in Geographic Information Systems II: GEOG 4320 class will map the routes and locations for trail clean ups throughout the Cedar Valley.
Partner: City of Cedar Falls, Cedar Valley Trails, and UNI Campus
Maintaining Public Art
Art students will clean public art around Waterloo/Cedar Falls.
Partner: Waterloo Center for the Arts; Hearst Center for the Arts
Campus Conversations: Students Shaping Civic Culture
Small groups of students - guided by trained facilitators - will explore challenges and opportunities for building a strong civic cultures at UNI. Ideas emerging from these sessions will inform the Center for Civic Education's 2026-2027 strategic plan, with students invited to stay involved in selected projects.
Partner: Center for Civic Education & Invited UNI Classes
Mapping Routes for Bed Delivery
Students in Geographic Information Systems II: GEOG 4320 class will map the routes for the delivery of 150 beds to families in need.
Partner: Love Inc.
Delivering Beds
Student Athletes will deliver beds to families in need in the Cedar Valley.
Partner: Love Inc.
Podcast Production Featuring Day of Service
UNI Capstone students will produce podcasts highlighting projects from Day of Service. To listen follow UNIEngaged through UNI's Office of Community Engagement.
Partner: Office of Community Engagement
Building, Restoration, and ReStore Support
Students in Construction Management and Interior Design programs will be assisting with three house builds, work on a historic/restoration home, and work in the ReStore.
Partner: Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity
Live TV Production
Students in Advanced Digital Media: TV Studio Live/News will produce shows that highlight their own engagement on the Day of Service as well as various other projects of the day.
Partner: UNI Sesquicentennial
Paws for Panhellenic
UNI Panhellenic Council volunteers will assist at a local animal shelter.
Partner: Animal Shelters
Conversations, Coffee, and Lap Blankets
Culture & Intensive English Program students will host a Conversation and Coffee Hour with Friendship Village residents as well as create lap blankets for residents in the memory care unit.
Partner: Friendship Village
Yard Work for Foster Families
Languages and Literature and Alpha XI Delta students will provide foster families with spring yard work and light outdoor projects.
Partner: Cedar Valley Angels
Making Garden Art
Recreation, Tourism, and Nonprofit Leadership Majors will making stained glass and copper plant stakes to be sold at the Friends of the Cedar Rock gift shop. All proceeds will support the preservation of the historical Walter House.
Partner: Cedar Rock State Park
Painting boards for summer camp
Art students will design and paint camp boards for Camp Heart Connection summer camps.
Partner: Children's Cancer Connection
Creating Templates for Community Climate Action Planning
Climate Action Planning GEOG 4170 Capstone students will be working with UNI Center for Energy and Environmental Education to research and write a grant proposal template for community climate action planning. This template and associated research will be used by the CEEE to request future funding.
Partner: UNI Center for Energy and Environmental Education
Food Drives for Panther Pantry
Sociology and Geography students will work together to support UNI Panther Pantry through partnering with local grocery stores and churches to run food drives. Students will be volunteering at local grocery stores, coordinating with churches, and staffing food/item intake at Panther Pantry.
Partner: Panther Pantry
Preparing Paperwork Packets
Social work majors will help put together client paperwork packets.
Partner: Friends of the Family
Welcome Kits - Friends of the Family
Social work majors will create welcome kits for Friends of the Family. They will shop for items (cleaning supplies, household items) to put into welcome kits to newly housed clients and then will assemble the kits at the FOF office.
Partner: Friends of the Family
Volunteer at Local Elementary School
Students in the Literacy Education, Early Childhood Education, and Special Education programs will volunteer at a local elementary school by assisting with a variety of helpful tasks that support the daily operations of the building.
Partner: Local Public School
Teacher Appreciation
Students in the Literacy Education, Early Childhood Education, and Special Education programs will participate in teacher appreciation activities. Participants may choose to write letters to teachers across the state or create positive affirmation table tents for students.
Partner: Schools Across the State
Development of Free Online Courses
Students in Instructional Design for Online Learning are developing free, self-paced online mini courses in topics that support digital literacy, accessibility, inclusivity, campus engagement, or emerging career skills.
Partner: General Public
Lessons for First Graders
Students in a Creative Drama class will be delivering a lesson to 1st grade classrooms in Waterloo.
Partner: Lowell Elementary
Picnic Tables for Campus
Construction management students will build four picnic table for use around campus.
Partner: UNI Campus
Tree Planting in Waterloo
Students in the Race & Policy class & the Center for Energy & Environmental Education will plant trees to provide tree canopies.
Partner: Waterloo Neighborhoods
Roadside Cleanup with UNI American Marketing Association Student Org. - DOT
Volunteers will assist with roadside cleanup supported by the Iowa DOT.
Partner: UNI American Marketing Association, Iowa DOT
Hearing Voices Simulation
Students in social work, public health, and nursing will participate in a simulation training to increase their understanding and empathy of those with mental illness.
Partner: MindSpring Mental Health Alliance
Prototype for Meskwaki Language App
Students in a digital writing class will develop a prototype for a Meskwaki language app.
Partner: Meskwaki Language and Cultural Preservation