Special Event Details

Community Impact Week 2025

Dates: 10/7/2025 - 10/11/2025

The Event date and time you are looking for is no longer available.

Community Impact Week, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, powered by Hands On Greater Portland

Community Impact Week features volunteer opportunities throughout Clark, Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties! This event highlights our Community Impact work of United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, which includes volunteer opportunities supporting early education, disaster & crisis resiliency, stable housing, and racial justice initiatives, among many other ways you can support needs in our community. Join us on one day or many days! Revisit volunteer projects you missed or connect with something new! Community Impact Week is a great way to re-engage in volunteerism, support our community partners, and have a lot of fun along the way.

Want to find some other ways to help or can't attend one of the volunteer projects? Host a community supply drive! Scroll to the bottom to learn how you can host a supply drive for community partners with important needs.

Thank you for going Hands On, Hearts In to support our community!

Thank you to our sponsors for helping to make this event possible!

Sign-up for a project that works for you!

Click a linked project below to find out details and sign-up.
Note: You will need to first log-in or register, then return to the project to sign-up.

Tuesday, October 7th

9:00AM - 12:00PM Farming Day at Working Theory Farm (age 14+) Hillsboro - up to 15 volunteers
9:00AM - 3:00PM (drop-in hours) Giving Thanks Letter Addressing at United Way (age 13+) SW Portland- up to 20 volunteers
10:00AM - 12:00PM Share Donation Warehouse (age 5+) Vancouver - up to 15 volunteers
10:00AM - 2:00PM Ensuring S'mores at Girl Scout Camp Mountaindale (age 15+) North Plains - up to 10 volunteers
2:00PM - 4:15PM Be a Teammate at Every Body Athletics! (age 14+) SW Portland - up to 20 volunteers FULL
5:30PM - 7:30PM PDX Books Through Bars (age 13+) SE Portland - up to 10 volunteers FULL

Wednesday, October 8th

9:00AM - 12:00PM Harvest Day at Kindness Farm! (age 5+) SE Portland - up to 15 volunteers. FULL
9:00AM - 12:00PM Spruce Up Laurelhurst Park (age 15+) SE Portland - up to 12 volunteers
10:00AM - 12:00PM Fashion Sorting Party with Dress for Success! (age 16+) NE Portland - up to 20 volunteers  FULL
10:00AM - 2:30PM Kitchen Takeover at p:ear (age 27+) NW Portland - up to 6 volunteers
10:30AM - 2:00PM Home Repair and Care Day with Community Energy Project (age 12+) Portland - up to 10 volunteers
3:45PM - 7:15PM Make Meals from the Heart at Ronald McDonald House (age 13+) N Portland - up to 5 volunteers.  FULL

Thursday, October 9th

9:00AM - 12:00PM Land Tending with Friends of Tryon Creek (age 10+) S Portland - up to 30 volunteers
9:30AM - 11:30AM Support the Free Store For Teachers at Schoolhouse Supplies (age 12+) NE Portland - up to 15 volunteers FULL
10:00AM - 12:00PM Sort, Stock & Shine at the Project Lemonade Store (age 14+) NE Portland - up to 10 volunteers
10:00AM - 4:00PM Building Therapy Goat Enclosure at A Village For One (age 18+) Oregon City - up to 15 volunteers
12:00PM - 3:00PM Halloween Costume Giveaway at Fosterful (age 12+) Vancouver - up to 10 volunteers.
12:00PM - 4:00PM Help out in our Free Community Store at The Giving Closet (age 14+) Vancouver - up to 20 volunteers
2:00PM - 4:00PM Fall Cleaning at Transitions Project (16+) NW Portland - up to 10 volunteers

Friday, October 10th

9:00AM - 1:00PM Fall Farm Day at Latinos Unidos Y Floreciendo (12+) Vancouver - up to 15 volunteers
10:00AM - 12:00PM Repair Children's Books at The Children's Book Bank (age 10+) NE Portland - up to 17 volunteers  FULL
10:00AM - 1:00PM Prepare STEM Kits (shift 1) with the United Way (age 18+) SW Portland - up to 10 volunteers.  FULL
12:00PM - 2:00PM Winter Warmth Sorting Party at Clackamas Service Center (age 18+) Clackamas - up to 10 volunteers
11:00AM - 1:00PM De-Nailing Day at the ReBuilding Center (age 12+) SE Portland - up to 15 volunteers  FULL
2:00PM - 4:00PM Prepare STEM Kits (shift 2) with the United Way (age 18+) SW Portland - up to 10 volunteers   FULL
3:45PM - 7:15 PM Make Meals from the Heart at Ronald McDonald House (age 13+) N Portland - up to 5 volunteers. FULL

Saturday, October 11th

8:00AM - 10:00AM Spruce Up Tualatin Library (age 5+) Tualatin - up to 12 volunteers FULL
9:00AM - 12:00PM Sensory Garden Work Party at Imagine Possibilities (age 6+) Aloha - up to 10 volunteers. FULL
9:00AM - 12:00PM Forest Park Restoration Volunteer Event (age 6+) NW Portland - up to 35 volunteers FULL
10:00AM -11:30AM Rock the Dock River Cleanup with The Human Access Project and SOLVE (age 13+) NE Portland - up to 150 volunteers
10:00AM - 2:00PM Reset the ReStore at Habitat ReStore (14+) Beaverton - up to 12 volunteers
10:00AM - 12:00PM Albina Coop Gardening and Farming Day (age 14+) NE Portland - up to 20 volunteers

Community Supply Drives

Angels in the Outfield

Angels in the Outfield Holiday Store Drive

The Angels in the Outfield is a non-profit organization seeking to brighten the lives of children impacted by crime, abuse and neglect. We provide experiences for children who fall within our mission, like summer camp, sports fees and equipment, tutoring, activities, etc. We also host a holiday store each year that helps 1,400 children. Each child gets a new winter jacket, a new pair of pajamas, a blanket and 3 to 5 toys.

Supplies Needed: New items for holiday store. We are seeking arts and crafts, bikes, sports balls, blankets, infant toys, legos...New items only please. Items can also be found on our Amazon wish list: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1WWSQAZR0F0V9?ref_=wl_share

Who Benefits: Each year the holiday store brightens the holidays for 1,400 children impacted by crime, abuse and neglect.

Drop-off Contact and Support: We have several drop-off locations listed below and pick-up can be arranged if needed. please email shannon@theangelsintheoutfield.org if you have questions or need assistance.

World Hearts Fair trade, 11-5 Mon.-Sun.
1833 Willamette Falls Drive
West Linn, OR

Oregon City Christian Church, 9-2 Mon.-Fri.
Main office lobby has a box for donations
1179 South End Road
Oregon city, OR

Hardware Barber, 9:00-3:00 Tues.-Sat.
714 Main Street
Oregon City, OR

JoyRx | Children’s Cancer Association

JoyRx Caring Cabin Welcome Baskets!

JoyRx Nature provides an essential connection to the natural world. Nestled in 24 acres of surrounding woods with plentiful wildlife and a serene lake, JoyRx Nature’s Alexandra Ellis Caring Cabin at the Oregon Coast provides children in treatment and their extended families with a place of peace in a calming environment.

Supplies Needed: Once a month, a group of volunteers can sign up to purchase items and build a welcome basket for one or more families staying at the Caring Cabin in the following month. These baskets are filled with toys, games, snacks, self-care items, and more in order to further support them. We encourage you to do your best assembling to make it look colorful, fun, and inviting!

Once the required items are purchased, you are welcome to build them at home and then drop them off at our office by the provided date or come in and build them at our office on that same date.

To volunteer for this opportunity, each person involved will need to fill out a Volunteer Interest Form. If you would like to help us care for and support our families, making their time away at the Caring Cabin the best it can be, please reach out to TPaterson@JoyRx.org for more information.

Drop-off dates:

September 9th, October 7th, and December 9th.
Drop off between 8am and 4pm.

Who Benefits: This volunteering opportunity provides our volunteers with a way to care for and support our children in treatment and their families. By building these baskets, you and your group are having a direct impact on these children who are staying at the Caring Cabin, bringing them joy and fun in a place where they can focus on creating memories with their loved ones.

Blanchet House

Make Care Kits For People Who Are Experiencing Homelessness

The misson of Blanchet House is to offer food, shelter, and aid to all those in need of a safe place to be nourished and restored. Assist the transformation of each life we touch with compassion and dignity.

Supplies Needed: Care kits include basic items that many Blanchet House guests need everyday. When you give care kits, you are showing kindness and compassion for a fellow human being going through difficult times and enduring cruel living conditions. Commonly, they include a small article of clothing, some hygiene supplies, and a snack, packed in a sealed bag. For ideas and directions on how to make a care kit, please see our website: https://blanchethouse.org/care-kits/

Please do not include literature, medications like Tylenol or Advil, or liquid hand sanitizer. Do not pack care kits in paper bags. We ask that you only include new items in care kits.

Who Benefits: Blanchet House distributes care kits to guests that join us for our meal services. Blanchet House serves over 6000 plates of food each week (over 1000 each day) and can hand out over 200 care kits during a meal service.

Drop off Contact and Support: Care kits can be dropped off Mon-Sat, at 310 NW Glisan St. from 8:00 – 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 – 4 p.m. Please avoid dropping off during meal services when our staff is occupied.

Pull up to the entrance on Glisan, leave your items in the car, knock on the door to get our attention, and a staff member will retrieve your donation. If you’d like a donation receipt, we will provide one. You can also call us at 503-241-4340 or email mseid@blanchethouse.org.