Do you volunteer at any events with your children to help the community etc?

I'm interested in participating in volunteer work with my children to help them appreciate all they have and show them that we can give back and help others in need.

Do you know of any appropriate organizations, activities, events that have volunteer opportunities that I can look into with my children?

Message edited 8/28/2011 2:17:27 PM.

Re: Do you volunteer at any events with your children to help the community etc?

No, and I was just thinking that my son and I should start volunteering at a soup kitchen/church or something. He's 10 and he needs a serious reality check. I also want him to feel good about helping.

Re: Do you volunteer at any events with your children to help the community etc?

A lot of 'soup kitchens' tend to be maxed out on server help. Many organizations need folks who will stand outside stores and whatever to collect donations and give out information to passerby. It's not a bad experience for older kids to see how much indifference there is in the world - and how much kindness there is as well.

Re: Do you volunteer at any events with your children to help the community etc?

Our Cub Scout Pack does a lot of community service work. We encourage the scouts to participate in at least 3 community service events in a year, we give them the opportunity to participate in about 8 -10.

There are a few that were very impactful on my son. The first being deliving food to the needy on Thanksgiving; second performing for senior citizens in a nursing home and third doing a community clean up on our main street. He talks about each of those experiences and wants to them again.

I think the thing that made these events important to him was he saw the impact immediately. We also do things like food drives, where he knows the food is going to someone who needs it but that "someone" is unknown. When he actually had a person in front of him thanking him for the meal he delivered it really hit home.

Re: Do you volunteer at any events with your children to help the community etc?

My UU fellowship does a lot.

Right now my kids are a little bit young to directly participate but we do a few things right now.

Every Sunday, we bring non-perishable food to help feed the "Hungry Basket" at our fellowship. All of that food goes to a food bank in Huntington.

We ran around hitting up the back to school sales to buy school supplies for an organization that was the charity of the summer at the fellowship. I explained to them how and why some families don't have the money for crayons and pencils for their own children.

I am hoping to get them directly involved in the Thanksgiving food drive.

This winter we will adopt a family during the holiday season. I have wanted to do this the last two holiday seasons but DH was either unemployed or about to lose his job.