Yangsi Rinpoche writes;

There are two types of bodhichitta – aspiring bodhichitta and engaging bodhichitta. “Engaging” means taking action, doing something based on bodhichitta mind, the wish to liberate all beings from suffering. In the context of our Dharma practice, we try to understand, and we try to meditate, and after that, there is something we can do. This is engaging bodhichitta. We are not only building up the wish inside our minds, but we are actually doing something physically to serve others.

Basically, social service should be something that we do totally from our hearts. We should act with no expectation involved at all. We serve completely from the heart. In one way, this kind of training helps us not to become totally intellectually dry. It brings our hearts more freshness. And it brings us the ability to integrate our own understanding of Buddhadharma into reality.