Serve
Community service events, drives, and care packages that meet real needs, powered by student volunteers.
A Bridge Between Communities
Reaching out to communities beyond our own, together.
We bring students and communities of every background together to serve people across Los Angeles, through service events, care packages, and showing up for one another.
Our mission
Beyond Our Own brings people of every background together through community service, to support communities beyond their own, whether defined by culture, faith, circumstance, or life experience, and to inspire a generation that cares about others, not only its own.
What we do
Unite
We bring together people of different backgrounds, beliefs, and life experiences to work side by side for a common good.
Understand
We encourage everyone to learn about, care for, and stand up for communities beyond their own, from cultural and faith communities to people facing illness, hardship, or isolation.
Our latest event
Serving at the first Gluten-Free Kitchen Pickleball Tournament
On October 10, Beyond Our Own volunteers teamed up with Beyond Celiac, a national nonprofit working toward a cure for celiac disease, to staff its first annual Gluten-Free Kitchen Pickleball Tournament.
Celiac disease is a serious autoimmune condition that affects about 1 in 100 people. There is no cure yet, and a strict gluten-free diet is the only treatment, so even sharing a meal or joining a community event can be a challenge. The tournament brought players, families, and supporters together to raise awareness and support research toward a cure.
Our volunteers worked alongside the Beyond Celiac team throughout the day: filling gift bags, stocking the refreshment table, preparing tournament shirts, and welcoming players as they arrived.
It was a day of competition, community, and care, and a reminder that showing up for others means standing beside people facing challenges we may never face ourselves. We're grateful to Beyond Celiac for welcoming us to be part of it.
Our first event
A food & toiletry drive for SOVA
For our first service event, Beyond Our Own hosted a food and toiletry drive at Pavilions in Santa Monica to benefit the SOVA Community Food & Resource Program of Jewish Family Service LA.
SOVA provides free groceries and essentials to individuals and families facing food insecurity across Los Angeles. Shoppers answered the call. By the end of the drive, our volunteers had filled bin after overflowing bin with canned goods, pantry staples, and personal care essentials for SOVA to share with local families in need.
In the news
All news →After the Los Angeles wildfires, clergy crossed denominational lines and forged new bonds
After the 2025 fires, LA rabbis, pastors, priests and other faith leaders began leaning on one another across religious lines, sharing space, advice and support as they rebuilt their congregations.
Read on Associated Press via WTOP ↗Altadena's first mosque still not open after Eaton Fire
Masjid Al-Taqwa, a historically Black mosque, burned in the Eaton Fire. Its families now pray in a building offered by the church across the street: neighbors of another faith making room.
Read on Spectrum News 1 ↗Community comes together after antisemitic vandalism at Vernon Hills synagogue
After hateful graffiti targeted a suburban Chicago synagogue, neighbors of every faith covered its walls with notes of support and nearly 300 people joined its Shabbat service.
Read on ABC7 Chicago ↗There's a place for you here.
Every group matters, and so does everything each group has faced. We're all in this together.
For students
Become a volunteering member
Students from 8th grade through undergrad can apply to join our volunteer team and take part in service events across Los Angeles.
Apply to joinFor organizations, businesses & neighbors
Make a difference with us
Coordinate a service event with our volunteers, welcome us to host at your space, donate care-package items, or collaborate as a business.
Reach out