New Thanksgiving Warm-up -- Family Volunteer Day

Use VolunteerSpot to Make Family Volunteer Day a New Part of Your Holiday Tradition

Did you ever see the episode of Super Nanny where the bratty kids just complain about how they don’t have the right iPods, shoes, jeans or fancy enough house? Super Nanny knew exactly how to straighten them out – march the family over to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity to see how lucky they really are, instill a little bit a productive guilt and ultimately let the kids see that their effort can make a real difference in the lives of people around them in the community.

Teaching our kids to make a difference in the community makes a difference in them too. Volunteering together is a great way to bond over something positive and it builds important family traditions.

Around Thanksgiving, once we’re stuffed full of yummies on the big day, and nestle in our couches watching the big games we start getting slammed with ads to buy buy BUY for the holidays. The kids often stop being thankful and start getting greedy. Wouldn’t it be great to inoculate them against a little of the consumerism before it starts up and instead take a moment to build a real joy of giving to others? With all the economic turmoil, some of it hurting our own families, isn’t it time to shift focus to bonding over the importance of being together and doing good, rather than just planning another trip to the mall?

Enter one of the coolest new volunteering holidays there is – Family Volunteer Day! Created by the HandsOn Network this annual helping holiday takes place the Saturday before Thanksgiving and is a great way to help kids see the value of giving rather than getting. It’s also a great way to strengthen family bonds and promote community service as a family tradition rather than just a school requirement. It shows that a group can get more done than an individual and creates pride in the achievement of helping. We can’t believe this didn’t happen sooner!

Feeding the needy is a traditional way that many individuals and families offer their help to the less fortunate during the holidays. But there are so many different organizations with needs that are overlooked. Part of the fun of participating in Family Volunteer Day is getting the whole family involved in deciding where and who they want to serve – and by focusing action on the Saturday before the big day, families can create new and innovative ways to share their service in addition to service on Thanksgiving itself. 

Families who have participated before have created some incredible contributions In one family, faced with boxes of old kid videos about to be carted to a thrift store, the kids thought perhaps local hospitals could use these in their children’s ward and in the process created Kid Flicks, an ongoing effort to cycle old videos to hospitals – which gratefully receive them on behalf of young patients.

Another family wanted to honor the passing of a senior member of the family by doing work to improve the lives of older citizens. Each member of the family created a project, and the others helped to service the project.

Think of all the ways your family can get involved and make a difference:

• Plan and replant a derelict garden area at a school, church, community or senior center
• Garage sale to raise money to buy books for the needy
• Trash cleanup in a local park – with a little exercise thrown into the mix!
• Hot cocoa stand to raise money for a local need
• Host a neighborhood pet food drive or collect toys and old towels for local animal shelters
• Coordinate visits to home bound seniors
• Any activity your family comes up with where you can do it together!

Family volunteering doesn’t have to be only your immediate family – it’s even more fun when you have more people!! It can be a family reunion activity, a neighborhood all family get together, girl scout families working together – the bigger the connection the bigger the impact.

VolunteerSpot can help make setting up and coordinating your activities easier, simply by using our FREE activity coordination and reminder tools so that your participants can just sign up for a shift with a click. You can let everyone know how many people you’ll need, you can also set up a list of things to bring. Here are some great examples of larger multi-family volunteer projects: 

• Neighborhood cleanup : there might be an empty lot that needs cleaned or a senior neighbor      having a hard time keeping up with raking leaves or mowing or putting up holiday lights – organize a group to get out and help – and let them know what tools to bring and work to be done, invite friends and neighbors to help.
• Baby Baskets – host a baby shower for babies of moms in need. Have friends bring everything new mom needs (diapers, wipes, clothes, toys, etc.), old baskets to hold supplies, maybe even cans of pink and blue spray paint to spruce up the baskets -- get crafty!! Use VolunteerSpot to have friends and family choose what to bring. Then, host a basket-filling party at your home.
• What if every family on your block helped at the local park? You could clean a trail, cut back weeds or paint park benches. Once you’ve checked with the local parks department, setup your activity in VolunteerSpot, let people know what to bring and you’re ready to go! 

Lots of organizations will be hosting special activities for Family Volunteer Day – as you start your plans, search local community volunteer sites for pre-planned activities in your area.

Download Family_Friendly_Volunteering_eBook.pdf

Comments

[Karen]

I just LOVE this new holiday!! Can't wait to bring Family Volunteer Day to the families in my Scout troop!!