Year after year, thousands of volunteers show up for a massive volunteer effort that spans the city for a simple reason, said Stu Davis, executive director of COSILoveYou.

“It gives a lot of people who want to help and can an easy way to dip their toe in the water to start volunteering — without diving in all the way,” he said.

The nonprofit Christian organization arranges two CityServe events each year and also works with local churches, nonprofits, businesses, school districts and civic entities to benefit education needs, homelessness services and food for needy residents.

Unlike some volunteer work, there’s no training, no special skills and no big-time commitment needed to participate in the Spring CityServe, which is coming up May 3-4.

People are asked to donate three hours of their time on those days on projects that span every interest imaginable.

Organizations and agencies that need a quick assist from volunteers include foster care agencies, homelessness prevention efforts, senior services, public schools, parks, community centers and numerous others.

Most of the jobs involve unskilled labor, Davis said, such as painting hallways in a school, cleaning a playground, reorganizing a food pantry or doing yard work.

“For people who are busy, who have families, it’s often hard to commit to hours and hours as a volunteer without knowing much about an organization,” he said.

The organization’s hope is that people will return on their own as a volunteer to an organization, but there’s no requirement to do so.

Hundreds of volunteers are still needed for next month’s Spring CityServe, which Davis said should deploy about 2,000 to 2,200 people across the region to do good deeds. Sign up is available at cosiloveyou.com.

“All are welcome to serve and be served,” Davis said. “Regardless of where somebody lives, there are projects nearby their neighborhood.”

This is the third annual CityServe to be held in the spring, and the ninth to be held in the fall, Davis said. The fall CityServe, which this year will be held Oct. 4-5, usually attracts 2,300 to 2,500 volunteers.

Over the past five years, participants have contributed $2.5 million worth of service to the community, he said.

Family Life Services, which houses single mothers who have been homeless or left situations of domestic violence, has been a recipient since CityServe began, said Ronna Tepley Bauman, community relations manager.

“COSILoveYou volunteers play a crucial role in keeping our 2-acre campus beautiful and fit for families building a new future,” she said.

Over the years, adults, teens and children have signed up to fix or stain fences, pull weeds, rake leaves, clean apartments or move furniture.

“Their commitment is huge because we’re an all-part-time staff,” Bauman said. “They lighten our load tremendously twice a year and also show families in crisis that their community cares about them.”

The event also gives people who may not know anything about the organization the opportunity to see what they do, she said.

“Many have returned to continue donating their time or resources, and that’s part of the COSILoveYou team’s vision — to deploy generosity over the course of the year,” Bauman said. ”It works.”