Join Hands Day Date in the current year: May 4, 2024

The American Fraternal Alliance is an organization uniting 54 non-profit fraternal benefit societies in the United States and Canada through networking, education and advocacy. Founded in 1886 as the National Fraternal Congress, it merged with a rival group named the Associated Fraternities of America to form the National Fraternal Congress of America in 1912. In 2011, the organization received its current name.

The National Fraternal Congress of America partnered with the Points of Light Foundation to launch Join Hands Day in 2000. The event focused on promoting volunteering and helping foster better relationships between youth and adults. For the first two years, organizations that wanted to participate in Join Hands Day were asked to register their projects via the event’s official website.

In some years, a certain number of volunteer groups received a physical award and a cash award for their project’s beneficiary or another cause. The award ceremony took place during the annual conference hosted by the National Fraternal Congress of America.

Today, Join Hands Day is run by Assured Life Association, a not-for-profit life insurance provider founded in 1890 whose mission is to use the spirit of community and the power of ingenuity to create financial security and value for its members.

Join Hands Day is built around group volunteering events that bring people of different generations together in community service. These events allow youth and adults to work together as equals, helping bridge the generational gap. Organizers offer various event ideas to pick from, here are just a few of them:

• Invite teenagers to participate in a book reading at a nursing home or assisted living facility.
• Plant trees, shrubs or flowers in your local park.
• Create a skills exchange project where people of different generations can share their knowledge with one another.
• Organize a neighborhood clean-up event.
• Organize a food drive or a school supply drive.
• Prepare food and personal care kits for the homeless.

If there are no Join Hands Day events near you, you can organize an event of your own and invite your neighbors to participate. If it is not an option, you can celebrate the day by volunteering at a local animal shelter, children’s hospital, nursing home or soup kitchen, donating to a charity, or spreading the word on social media using the hashtag #JoinHandsDay.

Join Hands Day isn’t the only day when you can make a difference by volunteering. Similar observances include Random Acts of Kindness Day, Good Deeds Day, Global Pay It Forward Day, Mitzvah Day International, Volunteer Recognition Day, and many others. But the best way to make the world a better place is to perform at least one good deed every day without expecting anything in return.