1. Get your DIY hat on
Lend a helping hand to the Colour for a Cause project, which gathers teams of around 100 people to spruce up hospitals, orphanages and other buildings in need of a facelift. Visit www.volunteerindubai.com and like their facebook page so you can keep up to date with upcoming projects and events.
Feel it: During the next two months, Colour for a Cause is focusing on finishing off its revamp of Al Manar Charity School in Ajman, which provides free education to nearly 2,500 children.
Extra mile: For DIY enthusiasts and decorating or engineering professionals, offer up your knowledge as a team leader.
2. Kick beach butts
Sign yourself up for the next Operation Ozone beach clean-up event, which has pledged to remove half a million cigarette butts from UAE beaches this year. This event sees teams of five competing against each other to see who can pick up the most cigarette butts. Open to all ages, visit www.volunteerindubai.com for details.
Feel it: Not only are cigarette butts ugly, but they contaminate the water with toxins and are harmful to wildlife.
Extra mile: Nominate a new patch of beach and be an event team leader.
3. Get creative
Sign up as a volunteer at Start's (www.startworld.org) weekly art sessions for children with special needs, which are held at the Jam Jar gallery.
Feel it: Start is a non-profit organisation that offers art workshops to orphans, refugees and children with disabilities or from impoverished areas, to help them express themselves and overcome their negative experiences.
Extra mile: If you are an artist, get more committed to the cause by being one of the people who puts together lesson plans for the weekly sessions.
4. Read more
Donate your books to The Pink Book Sale, which convenes on the second Friday of every month at BurJuman.
Feel it: 100 per cent of money raised goes to Safe and Sound (www.safeandsound.ae), which raises awareness of breast cancer and funds free mammograms.
Extra mile: Arrange a collection at your workplace or child's school, or volunteer to be an area coordinator, meaning you nominate your home as a book drop-off point for your area.
5. Donate a day
Look out for the next Adopt-a-Camp care-package day, which sees hundreds of volunteers come together to package and distribute basic essentials to men living in labour camps. Email adoptacamp@gmail.com, or find them on facebook.
Feel it: Since 2006, Adopt-a-Camp has been working tirelessly to provide dignity and happiness to the country's labour force and now has nearly 13,000 men within their circle of care. Recently this has involved working on behalf of abandoned camps, where companies have absconded leaving entire camps of men without food, electricity, water, money or a ticket home.
Extra mile: Sign up to become a permanent member of the Adopt-a-Camp support network by helping out with English classes, counselling sessions, hygiene workshops, events or repatriation schemes.
6. Go beyond the blue
Spend six nights diving in the Musandam peninsula of Oman mapping the coral reefs and reporting back about the species that inhabit the area with Biosphere Expeditions (www.biosphere-expeditions.org).
Feel it: The Musandam's coral reefs are relatively untouched, which offers researchers the opportunity to study their ecosystems and try to protect them for future generations.
Extra mile: The Emirates Diving Association (www.emiratesdiving.com) trains divers up as qualified Reef Check monitors to take part in their monthly audit of the UAE's reefs.
7. Go on outings
Dubai Autism Centre (www.dubaiautismcenter.ae) needs help when taking their children on outings, such as swimming and horseriding.
Feel it: DAC currently has 43 students with more than 200 on the waiting list. They rely heavily on the support of volunteers and donations to raise awareness and understanding about autism and to integrate children with autism into the community.
Extra mile: Spare time on your hands? Offer up a few hours, twice a week, to help out in the classrooms with activities and therapies.
8. Spread water love
Gather three friends and sign up for the next Pass the Glass event, where teams of four drive around town with 400 containers of water and hydration information leaflets, distributing them to labourers, gardeners, security men and others who are working out in the heat of the day. Visit www.volunteerindubai.com for details.
Feel it: At their last event, Pass the Glass gave out 24,000 containers of water in eight hours.
Extra mile: If you can speak another language, such as Urdu or Hindi, you can help with spreading the word about the importance of hydration to the men you meet when handing out water.
9. Get your apron on
For those lucky enough not to do your own housework, don't let your homemaking skills go to waste. The Helping Hands team is looking for sprightly volunteers to do ironing, cooking and general cleaning for people who are very much in need of some motherly support. Visit www.volunteerindubai.com for details.
Feel it: Senses Residential Care Home currently has 25 children under their care, many of whom are special-needs children who have been abandoned by their families. The care centre looks after the children 24 hours a day, on a very tight budget. As such, not only are the staff providing therapy, education, fun activities and a loving family environment, but they are also fighting a constant battle against the ever-mounting housework.
Extra mile: If you're a self-confessed cleanophile, channel your energy into becoming a Helping Hands team leader, who coordinates the volunteers and makes sure the work gets done.
10. Give the dog a bone
If you prefer four-legged beings to the two-legged variety, join the team of fellow animal-lovers who visit Dubai Animal Rescue Centre (www.darcuae.com) twice a week to help clean out cages and enclosures, walk dogs, wash and groom animals and lots more.
Feel it: DARC is a family-run project which shelters more than 150 animals who have been abandoned or ill treated. They home everything from reptiles to rodents and need support from fellow animal lovers to keep the animals properly cared for.
Extra mile: If your child's school, nursery, or scout group is looking for a venue for their next outing, suggest the Dubai Animal Rescue Centre. They will tailor-make an event to cater to the group's age and interests while teaching the children about the different animals under their care.
