Studies have found that students who are involved in service learning projects within the community show an improvement in their attitudes towards themselves, civic engagement and learning, as well as a gain in social skills and academic performance. Despite these findings, it remains difficult to incorporate these projects in large undergraduate classes where there is a lack of resources. This paper presents a case study of an innovative teaching and learning approach that aims at solving this dilemma. Instead of being placed in community organisations, students received the responsibility to identify needs in their immediate communities and to establish, in groups, sustainable projects that would have a lasting effect on this community. The results of the survey done by 227 students after having completed these projects, showed that although 66% of the students were initially very sceptical about the assignment, 92% reported finding it very rewarding on a personal level and that the project helped them to reach out to and get to know their communities. Most students (90%) also reported having learned from the community members during these projects. The findings further indicated that this approach lead to numerous personal gains for the students involved, including bolstering self-confidence, fostering a passion for the subject and improving community awareness and engagement. Not only did the students gain from this experience, these projects also had a positive effect on the communities they were involved in.