HandsOn Jacksonville (HOJ) provides the HandsOn Jacksonville Projects Section of the Website,  HOJ Project Leaders, and HOJ-Managed Projects.  View slideshow of HandsOn Jacksonville Volunteers in Action....are you one of them?                                                                     

HOJ is an affiliate of the HandsOn Network, an international civic movement that brings people together to tackle community problems through volunteer service, encouraging them to "be the change" in their communities.  HOJ is a collaborative initiative with local non-profit agencies to help solve serious problems that face our community today using the HandsOn Network model. 

HOJ projects are generously sponsored by our United Way Partner.  They are managed by local nonprofit agencies or HandsOn Jacksonville.  All current projects are listed on the HOJ Project Section of the Website where anyone in the world can log on, find an opportunity that is right for them and register online.  Whether you are working, parenting, in school, or retired, these projects offer a variety of ways to get involved in our community.  If you are interested in finding an opportunity that is right for you, click HandsOn Jacksonville Project Section of the Website.

When you volunteer with HOJ, you join people from all backgrounds and experiences.  You get a chance to explore issues that shape our community and develop your leadership and job skills.  Get connected and have fun while making an impact in our community.

If you are a community organization who would like to partner with HandsOn Jacksonville and post your volunteer needs on the HOJ Website, click NONPROFIT AGENCY MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM. To view all the benefits of agency membership with HOJ click Nonprofit Agency Membership.

Note that the membership form is in pdf format which requires Adobe Reader to view. To download the free reader click the icon:

HOJ Project Leaders

HOJ Project Leaders are a quintessential part of the work that HandsOn Jacksonville does every day.  They are committed, passionate, and proactive individuals who want to 'be the change' in their community through leadership and example.  HOJ Project Leaders organize, lead and inspire a group of volunteers before, during and after community projects and serve as a representative of HandsOn Jacksonville to the community.

Interested in becoming a Project Leader?  HandsOn Jacksonville provides Project Leader training and on-going support to individuals or groups interested in this role free of charge.  Click Project Leader Training for more information including our upcoming training dates or contact Jenny O'Donnell, Community Engagement Director, at 904-332-6767 ext. 115 or jenny@handsonjacksonville.org.

Recent Projects Managed by HandsOn Jacksonville

HandsOn Jacksonville collaborates with member agencies helping them create and manage group,volunteer service projects designed to achieve their mission.  Recent projects include: Fun, Educational Projects for Children of Refugees, Youth Volunteering on Mission Trip, Clean Up Day at the Zoo,   Distributing Books and Supplies at Teachers Depot,  Tree Planting at Susie Tolbert Elementary School,  Marking Pathways at Tree Hill, Crafting Valentines at New Heights, MLK Day: A Celebration of Peace,    Grounds Beautification at Safe Harbor Boys Home,   Gardening at the Cummer, Mission Harvest America, Organizing Clothes at Dignity U Wear, Capoeira At PACE, Summer Camps Activity! Preparing Kids for Disaster, Community Connections Summer Youth Mentoring Program, and Metro North Large Scale Beautification Project, March Madness Event, and Earth Day School Beautification Project.

Fun, Educational Projects for Children of Refugees

HandsOn Jacksonville brought a wide variety of fun and diverse projects for Lutheran Social Services 2009 Summer Camp. The summer camp is for children of refugee families who have recently arrived in the United States. The children come from all over the world including countries such as Iraq, Haiti, Burundi, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), and Nepal. HandsOn Jacksonville staff and volunteers engaged with the youth through educational and fun projects focusing on topics such as disaster preparedness, environmental awareness, and arts and crafts. This was a positive fun learning experience for all involved!

Youth Mission Trip includes Volunteering for Local Projects

The youth of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church set the bar for alternative summer breaks high during there visit to Jacksonville on June 8th – 12th. The group of 30 youth and their chaperones from Warner Robins, GA selected Jacksonville as the site of their summer youth mission trip. During their 5 days they worked over 1000 hours on 30 volunteer projects with 10 HandsOn Jacksonville non profit partner agencies. The projects included preparing international relief shipments for Mission Harvest America, painting playground equipment for Head Start, assisting with the South American Bird Sanctuary at the Jacksonville Zoo to preparing meals and serving the homeless. We here humbled by these young adults and feel they have modeled true leadership and inspiration for their peers across the country.

Clean Up Day at the Zoo

On May 1st over 100 7th graders from Episcopal High School piled onto a bus and headed for the Zoo! However, on this day they were not your typical young visitors to the Zoo that run around from exhibit to exhibit with ice cream and cameras. Instead, these hard working students volunteered for the day. They painted the walls behind the Jaquar exhibit, cleaned the river, spruced up exhibits, and landscaped. After putting in their time and hard work, these students had several moments to breathe and enjoy the Zoo before they were off to their next volunteer project with the World or Nations! HandsOn Jacksonville is grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such admirable and civic minded young students! They re truly shaping the next generation.

Distributing Books and Supplies at Teachers Depot

Duval County Public Schools provides public school teachers the chance to gather free teaching resources through the Teacher Supply Depot. The Depot has scheduled giveaway dates throughout the year for teachers to come and collect supplies for their classrooms.  On April 16th HandsOn Jacksonville volunteers assisted with the last giveaway for the 2008-2009 school year! Volunteers worked hard to distribute materials to the long lines of DCPS teachers who come to collect much needed supplies for their classrooms. Of the many volunteers who showed up to help that day more than half came from Unison Industries! Their faces are becoming familiar on our HandsOn project sites!

Tree Planting at Susie Tolbert Elementary School

In honor of Tu Bishval, Israel's tree planting holiday, 7th and 8th graders from Martin J. Gottieb Day School planted trees, shrubs and brightly colored annuals at Susie Tolbert Elementary School on January 30, 2009. 

The volunteers were joined by students from the elementary school to assist them in the planting.  The work was laborious but all the students involved had fun and made new friends while bringing the front lawn of the school to life!

Marking Pathways at Tree Hill

Students from the Martin Gottlieb Day School braved the cold weather in an environmental project at Tree Hill Nature Center in Arlington.  The class picked up fallen tree limbs and logs and used them to mark pathways on the trails.  The markers keep visitors from wandering off the path and getting lost.

Crafting Valentines at New Heights

Volunteers from the Jacksonville Jewish Center Sisterhood spent a fun and rewarding afternoon on January 28th at New Heights, a nonprofit agency serving people with disabilitiesl  The volunteers helped the day care participants craft beautiful valentines.  The participants were thrilled with their creations and there was lots of buzz and speculation as to who would be the recipients of their handiwork .

MLK Day: A Celebration of Peace

HandsOn Jacksonville teamed up with HOpe Worldwide and the Northeast Florida American Red Cross to implement a tremendously successful Day of Celebration and Service for MLK Day.  More than one hundred children in the northwest quadrant of Jacksonville gathered at St. Clair Evans Academy to craft peace tiles.  Volunteer artists from the Jacksonville Consortium of African American Artists along with more than fifty other community volunteers shared their talents by helping the children with the project.  The resulting tiles were displayed at the February Art Walk in Downtown Jacksonville.

The tiles are a visual representation of what peace means to the children who designed them.  They are currently on display at the Art Center Cooperative on 111 East Bay Street.  To see them, call 355-1757 for open hours.

Grounds Beautification at Safe Harbor Boys Home

On Wednesday October 14th,  14 students from Youth With A Misson partnered with the 14 boys of Safe Harbor Boys Home for a 2 hour escapade of weed pulling to re-beautify the grounds of Safe Harbor. This was an outstanding project that gave Safe Harbor organization time to accomplish more important tasks related to the mission of the organization.  All enjoyed themselves as the weather was pleasant!  The project ended with a meal prepared by one of the boys of Safe Harbor for the entire project's participants!  HOJ received glowing evaluations and the open invitation from Safe Harbor to partner on more projects!  

Gardening at the Cummer

 On Monday, July 28th, while most people were zooming to their offices for a day of meetings and conference calls, a group of Blue Cross Blue Shield Employees rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty gardening at the Cummer Museum. The museum is proud of its lovely and well known gardens overlooking the St. John’s River, however maintaining such a garden is laborious and constant work! The Cummer relies on the help of volunteers to maintain the gardens there.

Mission Harvest America

It’s hard not to be impressed after a day of volunteering at Mission Harvest America, just ask the group of Blue Cross Blue Shield employees who volunteered there August 6th. The warehouse is crowded with donations, barrels, books, crates, and buckets. However, with the help of volunteer hands donations reach remote areas of the world, including the Caribbean and Africa. Volunteers stacked and prepared buckets to be shipped and used not only to collect water, but to be set up as simple and effective water purification systems.

Organizing Clothes at Dignity U Wear

On Monday July 21st a group of enthusiastic Blue Cross Blue Shield employees gathered for a day of work at the Dignity U Wear warehouse. Rather then reporting to their offices, they sorted, inspected, and organized donations of brand new clothing received by Dignity U Wear. After this hard work was done, shipments went out nationwide to recipient non-profit agencies for distribution to their clients. Dignity U wear and Volunteer Jacksonville are grateful for the work of these volunteers!!

Capoeira At PACE

Members of Grupo Capoeira Bantu Beira Mar, a local Brazilian Performing Arts group, volunteered at the PACE Center for girls to teach them health and fitness through Capoeira. Capoeira is a Brazilian art form often called the dance-fight for its integration of movement, acrobatics, music, song, dance and martial arts. Volunteers from Grupo Bantu Beira Mar hope to educate the young women at PACE about dedication, history, culture, and fitness through this unique and fun opportunity. So far is has been a great success with smiles all around for this VJ managed project!

Summer Camps Activity! Preparing Kids for Disaster

During Hurricane Season, HandsOn Jacksonville Project Leaders and volunteers are working hard to educate children about the importance of disaster preparedness in the home and in their community. Volunteers read a story to the children and engage them in fun and interactive activities about preparedness not only for hurricanes, but for various other hazards such as floods, fires, earthquakes, and even how to get out of a rip current! This project has been a great success and we have already reached out to more than 1200 children! This project will continue throughout the summer and fall so it is not too late to sign up and be a part of something big!

Community Connections Summer Youth Mentoring Program

Volunteers were able to have a positive impact on the lives of young people while serving as mentors with the Community Connections Leigh Meadows Summer Program.  Activities focused on leadership, awareness, careers and other educational topics.  The program which began on June 12th continued through August 7, 2008.

Metro North Large Scale Beautification Project

Early morning on Saturday, June 28th, 25 HOJ volunteers gathered in the Katherine McNair Park hopeful to get started on a large scale clean-up before the heat of the day kicked in.  Doughnuts, coffee, juice and humidity were all plentiful as the volunteers selected edgers, rakes, and shovels and hit the streets of Brentwood community.  Volunteers from various areas throughout Jacksonville worked side by side with Brentwood resident volunteers throughout the day.  Despite the June heat and cloudless sky, volunteers manicured the sidewalks and picked up trash along nine neighborhood blocks.  This project was a partnership between Metro North CDC and HOJ to cultivate awareness and promote pride within the community.

March Madness Event

During March, 2008 a group of emplyees from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida volunteered their time to throw a birthday party for children at the Leigh Meadows Community Connections Center.  March birthdays were celebrated for 6 children at the center and festivities were planned and enjoyed by more than 25 children at the center.  The volunteers thoughtfully designed a variety of games themed "March Madness" for the children and there was certainly no shortage of cupcakes, goodie bags, gifts, prizes, games, laughter, or smiles that day.

Earth Day School Beautification Project

April is a very special month in Florida, it is Florida Volunteer Month.  Earth Day also falls in April so our Earth Day School Beautification Project was a very appropriate project for April.  During two consecutive Tuesday afternoons, a group of community members gathered at a local elementary school for an Earth Day Project.  The school had two overgrown and underutilized courtyards that were in great need of attention.  The school envisioned the courtyards becoming a colorful, clean place where students could gather, read, be outside and enjoy nature.  Our volunteers helped them attain just that.  They rolled up their sleeves and got to work raking, trimming, edging, planting flowers and trees, and creating a green space that the school can now utilize.