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About Create the Good


Create the Good connects you with volunteer opportunities to share your life experiences, skills and passions in your community

 

Create the Good's Impact in the World

7,000+

available volunteer opportunities on the network

200,000

people have joined the movement

Together we can make a difference.

It only takes one person to help change your world. You have the power to use your skills to do good anywhere, anytime. And you can start here.


What We Do

  

Find your best volunteering match

Connect with ways to share your life experience and skills that match your schedule and interests.

Find an Opportunity ›

Discover simple, fun ideas for creating good

Help feed a family in need, collect school supplies, start a community garden and much more.

Explore our Projects ›

Make good even better

Post your service project to reach a vast network of experienced and committed volunteers.

Find Volunteers ›


Everyone Has Some Good To Do

AARP was founded by Ethel Percy when she was 73.

“The Challenge, to live up to our better selves, to believe well of our fellow men and perhaps by doing so to help create the good, to experiment, to explore, to change, and to grow.”  ~ Ethel Percy

Our Beginnings

AARP has always been about service. The Association was founded by a volunteer, Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus, more than 50 years ago, and is guided to this day by an all-volunteer Board of Directors and National Policy Council. Each of AARP’s 53 state offices (which include the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands) receive direction and support from an all-volunteer Executive Council and extended volunteer team. And AARP manages several major volunteerism initiatives.

However, AARP recognizes that many Boomers and older Americans are already giving back to their communities in their own ways – and that a regular volunteer “position” isn’t a good fit for everyone. With limited time and wide-ranging interests, many individuals are looking for more flexible volunteer options. That’s why AARP established Create the Good.

Create The Good honors Dr. Andrus’ guiding principle “to serve, not to be served,” but expands on traditional ways to volunteer by connecting people with simple activities, time-flexible opportunities and a wide variety of interests. Check out all the ways that you can use your life experiences, skills and passions in your community today.

Facts About Ethel

  • Lived her life by the motto, “To serve, not to be served,” which remains the AARP motto.
  • A long-time educator and first woman high-school principal in CA.
  • She founded AARP in 1958 at the age of 73.
  • She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.

“Remember, one person with faith & love for his fellows is equal to the force of ninety-nine with only selfish interests.”

~ Ethel Percy Andrus