Good Deed of the Week

April 18, 2012 10:36 am CT

This week, Americans are celebrating good deeds with National Volunteer Week. Over the past several days, people across the country have spent their time helping others through a number of organizations. The best part? There are still opportunities for you to jump in and lend a hand! Here are a few to get you started:

• Join the Shedd Aquarium and help clean up 12^th Street Beach in Chicago.  Volunteers will spend the afternoon picking up trash from the beach and recycling materials.

• Participate in Chicago’s annual Clean & Green project to help community groups and neighbors clean and beautify neighborhoods citywide.

• Team up with City Year Chicago and Howland Charter Elementary to kick off Global Youth Service Day by painting, landscaping and helping with construction projects to improve the school.

Each year Illinois residents  dedicate an average of 175 million hours to volunteering. Not sure how you can help? You can pitch in with one of the state’s more than 65,000 registered nonprofits!

Are you participating in National Volunteer Week? Tell us in the comments below how you helped others.