Students can help out - while earning money for school. This year, up to 20,000 Americans, aged 17 or older, are taking part in AmeriCorps.
Members also receive a living stipend as well as health insurance.
AmeriCorps members clean up neighborhoods, police the streets, build houses for the homeless, tutor children, and more. As an IRS volunteer, you'll help the disabled, the elderly and lower-income taxpayers. Those aged 55 or older are eligible for the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, to work in libraries, police stations, hospitals and homeless shelters. Volunteers of all ages can help scientists and experts at the U.S. Geological Survey, the nation's largest earth science research organization. Volunteers gather water quality data, survey ore deposits, update maps, monitor earthquake and volcanic activity, and work with the latest computer technology.