Harry Styles Fans Are Turning Volunteering into Concert Memories: It Felt ‘So Much More Meaningful’ (Exclusive)

Lily BrownTue, October 13, 2026 at 8:55 PM UTC

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Harry Styles performs live on stage during The BRIT Awards 2023 on Feb. 11, 2023 in London, EnglandCredit: Samir Hussein/WireImage -

EARNT connects fans with local volunteer projects, offering concert tickets in exchange for community service

More than 180,000 people signed up after Styles announced his 2027 tour, pledging potentially one million volunteer hours

Volunteers supported senior centers, food distribution and neighborhood events while forming new friendships through their shared fandom

Harry Styles‘ “Treat People with Kindness” is taking on a whole new meaning.

For Alex Colucci, volunteering has always been about giving back. So when the opportunity came to combine that passion with her love of the 32-year-old “Fine Line” singer, it felt like a particularly meaningful way to spend a day.

Colucci, 29, discovered EARNT — an initiative that connects fans with volunteer opportunities in exchange for the chance to earn concert tickets — through Instagram. A longtime Styles fan dating back to his One Direction days, she signed up and was accepted for a volunteer project at a New York senior center.

Two volunteers painting on a wall with the letters HS and a heart visibleCredit: Courtesy EARNT

There, she and other volunteers helped celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by making cards for seniors, prepping lunch and cleaning in the kitchen. They also got to watch the center’s residents participate in a dance class.

“So it was really sweet to just see their faces light up once we walked in and they had an audience and we got to interact with them and make their day,” Colucci tells PEOPLE. “And you could tell they really appreciated having that new face environment.”

Colucci brought her two younger sisters along for the volunteer day, while her best friend joined her for the concert.

“Getting to share that moment with people I love and then meet new people who also shared the same interest for helping the community and Harry Styles was great,” she says.

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That, in many ways, is the idea behind EARNT: taking the excitement surrounding a major music event and turning it into something that extends beyond the concert itself.

Across six cities, the initiative has generated 38,304 sign-ups, 3,574 volunteer hours and 153,216 hours pledged. When Styles announced his 2027 tour, 180,000 people signed up to volunteer in less than 48 hours, with potentially one million hours pledged across the tour.

In New York alone, 562 people signed up, volunteering 308 hours and pledging another 2,248 hours.

The projects have ranged from community events and meal distribution to environmental work and supporting older adults. In New York, volunteers helped steward a block party for residents at Henry Street Settlement, distributed food for the Carter Burden Network, assisted with bingo for older adults, removed invasive species with The Bronx is Blooming and planted trees with Big Reuse.

A group of vounteers clapping and standing outdoors on a city street in New York CityCredit: Courtesy EARNT

At Henry Street Settlement, volunteers helped bring a free afternoon of music, games, food and activities to local families.

“We want to make sure the community has all the resources they need to get through everyday life,” Debbie Cox, vice president of the Department of Integration & Community Engagement for Henry Street Settlement, said in a statement.

For Maryam Donnelly, 56, and her daughter Lexi, 20, the block party was a particularly memorable experience.

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The New Jersey-based mother and daughter already had extensive volunteering experience before participating in EARNT. Maryam has spent decades involved in activism and nonprofit work, while Lexi volunteers in her community and at her college food pantry.

Still, they were drawn to the way EARNT brought volunteerism directly into local communities.

“I think it really helps to build a relationship,” Maryam says. “I would go back and help Henry Street, and I told them that. I would come back and help them when they need assistance.”

At the block party, Lexi worked at the water station, helping families stay hydrated on a hot summer day. Maryam had what she jokingly called an even sweeter assignment.

“I got to distribute all the cookies, which was a great job. I was the cookie lady,” she says. “That is a really popular spot to be when you get to pack up cookies for kids. Like, that’s the best job ever.”

Three individuals at a table with food and a bingo card with one serving cookiesCredit: Courtesy EARNT

But it was the atmosphere that stayed with both of them. Maryam remembers watching families dance, kids play and neighbors connect, while volunteers helped set up the event and stayed afterward to clean up.

For Lexi, earning a concert ticket was certainly part of the appeal. But the volunteer work quickly became meaningful in its own right.

“I was really excited to earn the concert ticket, but also really happy that I got to learn more about what Henry Street does and maybe volunteer for them again in the future,” she says.

A group of people posing together for the Henry Street Settlement in front of a red wall with a thank you displayCredit: Courtesy EARNT

The experience also gave volunteers a chance to find each other. Lexi recalls recognizing two fellow volunteers from Instagram’s Harry Styles fan community while they were taking down tents. What started as a conversation about Styles quickly expanded into a discussion about their shared music tastes and other interests.

“Connecting through music and through helping the community, I think, is really important,” Lexi says.

And for some volunteers, the connections have continued beyond the EARNT projects. Maryam says a group of Styles fans has formed a chat to organize additional volunteer opportunities in New York, including dog walking and food bank distribution.

The concert, of course, is still part of the fun.

Harry Styles performing at Madison Square Garden in New York CityCredit: Courtesy EARNT

Colucci says earning her ticket made seeing Styles at Madison Square Garden even more memorable, especially since she was able to bring along a friend who had attended his 2022 MSG residency previously with her.

“It just made everything of the experience feel so much more meaningful and empowering. I felt like I did something good for others,” she says. “And also then getting rewarded, which I think also sounds weird now that I said it out loud, but it felt good to do something and also get to experience an amazing concert.”

Styles is currently on his Together, Together Tour, which includes 108 shows across North America, Europe, the U.K., South America and Australia and is set to wrap Aug. 28, 2027, at Wembley Stadium in London.

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