Becoming a parent is so much more than simply bringing a child into your home. We’rein charge of teaching our children everything from how to tie their shoes to how to ride abike. We’re also responsible for teaching them the importance of serving others.Children (and humans in general) are naturally self-centered, but serving gives us allthe opportunity to look past ourselves and develop compassion and empathy for others.There are a couple approaches to choosing a service opportunity: you can research orask around about existing opportunities in your community, or you can use your family’sinterests and talents to serve in ways your enjoy. You can serve together as a family, orserve in a variety of ways to use different family members’ talents.
The first option teaches our children that we help when and where our community is inneed, whether it’s enjoyable or not. This could mean collecting litter, picking up after astorm, or cleaning out dog kennels at the local shelter. The second option teaches ourchildren to use their talents to make a positive impact on others. This could mean creating a flyer for a charity, making meals for neighbors in need, baking cookies for the fire department, or drawing pictures to send to nursing home residents.If you’d like to serve your community more, here are seven ways you can do so.
1. Food bank: Your local food bank is a great place to volunteer as a family either at the actual location or out in the community. Harvesters Community Food Network lists a variety ofvolunteer opportunities on their website. You can host a food or fund drive either in-person or virtually, donate their most-needed food items, or even give bounty from yourown garden. You can also become a Barrel Buddy by adopting a grocery store donation barrel and bringing those donations in. You can help pack lunch sacks that are availablefor families, children and seniors, as well as for disaster relief response efforts. You canpack holiday boxes, pack healthy family meal kits, or make cards for seniors that areincluded in Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) boxes. Serving at the food bank can be a great way to teach our children gratitude and show them lives outside their own bubbles.
2. Animals: If your family loves animals or your children desperately want a family pet but it’s not in the cards, serving at your local animal shelter can be a great way to scratch that itch.The Humane Society of Greater Kansas City needs volunteers to walk dogs, socialize scared kittens, clean, organize, perform administrative tasks, and do facility projects like painting and gardening. You could also host a fundraiser to purchase items from theorganization's Amazon wish list. If your home is pet-friendly, consider fostering a shelteranimal to give them a better chance to be adopted while freeing up more space foranother animal in need. Plus, the Human Society provides all supplies and medical careto foster families.
3. Schools: Our community’s schools need all the help they can get. Schools usually ask parents ifthey can volunteer when they register their kids. Especially if you work full time and yourkids are in a variety of activities, it may be a default no for you. But slow down and see ifthere are ways to serve your school ways that make sense for you and your family.Maybe running a booth at the school fair is doable; plus, it’s something you can do as afamily while mingling with other parents and students. You could host a book fundraiserfor your teacher’s classroom or the school library. You could ask if any teachers needhelp arranging or preparing their rooms over the summer. For example, this summer,my older two children helped some fifth grade teachers by putting down all the desksand arranging them in their classrooms.All three of my children are in school, and personally, having served two years on thePTO, volunteering a room parent, and substitute teaching, I can tell you that there’salways something your family can do to serve your school. Some great places to start are to attend PTO meetings or sign up as room parent to make sure your child’s teacher is properly supported.
4. Parks and Rec: If your family enjoys community events, try volunteering with your local parks and recreation department. Volunteers are needed for local 5K races, holiday events, andtherapeutic programs for individuals with disabilities, as well sports leagues. If your childis going to play a sport through your rec center and you have some knowledge orexperience, volunteering to coach is a great way to serve other families in yourcommunity. Even offering to be a co-coach is helpful—this might entail herding players or handling administrative tasks like sending emails or making a snack sign-up.
5. Picking up litter: One of the first ways our family served our community was to go on litterwalks—we just took a few bags and picked up trash on a walk we would normally takeanyway. This is a simple way to serve at times when it’s convenient for you. It’s even stroller-friendly for those with little ones. Have everyone wear disposable gloves; remindeveryone that only adults can pick up liquids, gas, and any other questionable items.You can even take before and after pictures to show your kids the difference they madein their own neighborhood. Then see how many different areas you can serve with continued litter walks. Our children are older now and have to accrue service hours for school clubs and to meet high school graduation requirements. After I saw the opportunity advertised in ourtown newsletter, our family adopted a street where we’re responsible for picking up litter.The first time took a couple hours and was a great opportunity for our kids to notice themost commonly discarded items and how terrible litter makes our community look. Thesecond time took half as long, which taught our children that the more often you pick up,the less litter accumulates and the nicer our street looks. It may not be the most fun activity, but a little humility never hurt our kids.
6. RAKS: Random Acts of Kindness (RAKs) are a fun way to serve our communities. Forexample, your family could return all the abandoned carts in a grocery store parking lot;bring treats to your local police and fire stations; bring favorite drinks to your children’steachers; or help neighbors with yard work. These are all ways to bring joy to ourcommunities as we help each other out. See if your kids can come up with their ownideas, then look online for more. You can then set aside a day or weekend to do as many RAKs as you can, or do one RAK every weekend to boost positivity in your community.
7. Ice Cream Socials: Another fun way to serve your community is to focus on your own neighborhood by hosting an ice cream social in your driveway. Sometimes volunteering can seem like adaunting task, but make it smaller and form those relationships. Put up signs, hand outflyers, text your neighbors, then hand out ice cream cones or popsicles and spend sometime with your community. We have hosted ice cream social in the past three states wehave lived in. It’s always a fun way to spend our time, and we’re always left wishingwe’d done it more often.It doesn’t have to be fancy, either. We set out a card table, a tub of ice cream, cones orbowls, and lawn chairs. Tip: If you’re new to the neighborhood or your neighborhood hasn’t done an event like this before, plant some friends in your driveway. People are usually afraid of being the first ones or the only ones to show up an event, so if they see people already chatting and having fun, they’re more likely to join.
Local churches or charities are a great resource to find existing service opportunities.And if your family is in an especially busy season, financial service is always appreciated. You can involve your children by having them send a card with yourfamily’s contribution. This teaches them that we can help our community in a variety ofways, including sharing our family’s resources. In the future, my husband and I plan tohave our children pick a charity that matters to them and do a presentation to the familyon why we should give money toward the organization of their choice.
Stephanie Loux is the mother of Layla (14), Mason (12) and Slade (9). Their family has helped serve their communities in a variety of ways.