While you are in the United States, you may want to spend some of your time helping others. President Obama made it clear that serving our communities is important. In a video message, he said the following:         

I'm calling on all of you to make volunteerism and community service part of your daily life and the life of this nation. And when I say “all,” I mean everyone – young and old, from every background, all across this country. We need individuals, community organizations, corporations, foundations, and our government to be part of this effort.

As an F or M student, you may volunteer under the following conditions:

• You do not receive any form of taxable income
• If the volunteer position is one for which an employer would officially hire someone, you cannot work there without work authorization.

A great source of information about volunteering is serve.gov, a comprehensive clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities. You can use serve.gov to find a volunteer opportunity, read inspiring stories of service, create your own project, register your project and recruit volunteers, and share your story.