Big-Hearted Projects for your Spring Bucket List
By: Sarah Aadland of Doing Good Together
Did your resolutions for 2015 snuggle in for a long winter nap, never to awake? If your good intentions were overtaken by the gray malaise of winter, now is the time to dust them off. Spring is here, and along with it, the renewed verve and optimism we’ve all been waiting for.
Below are some of our favorite ideas for volunteering as a family this spring.
- Pin them! Add them to your spring bucket list. And don’t forget to return to our links for conversation starters, book recommendations, and tips to make the most of each meaningful family moments.
- Plant a Row for the Hungry. This is April’s Project of the Month! If you’ve ever wanted to try gardening with your child, this project may be the way to hook them. Most food pantries are delighted to receive freshly picked and cleaned produce. Sharing your bounty may make the magic of tending a garden even more meaningful.
- Host a May Day Prep Party. May 1st is fast approaching and it has the potential to become a family favorite. Kids will have fun creating colorful baskets filled with treats, real or paper flowers, and sweet, anonymous notes. And they love sneaking out of the house a bit early on May Day to leave surprises on their neighbors’ doorsteps. By gathering a few friends to create May Day baskets together, you’ll share the cost and the fun.
- Get Fit for a Cause. Whether you’re a runner or you love someone who is, getting your family out to support a charity run can be a rewarding experience for everyone. Sign up to race together and raise donations as a family. Or sponsor and cheer for a racer you know.
- Spread Cheer with Old School Work. Don’t recycle those stacks of student art (all above average, of course!). Try this school-year-end tradition instead. Ask your kids to sort the drawings and artwork they’ve created over the year into three piles: keep, recycle, and mail to Color-a-Smile. This great organization will use them to cheer up nursing home residents, soldiers overseas, and anyone else in need of a smile.
- Pick up our May Book Club Selection - Two Old Potatoes and Me: Bewitching illustrations will help this story worm its way onto your list of favorites. Our enrichment materials will help you explore the ideas of patience, creating something new from something old, and the many ways we can connect with family members. Then start a gardening project that may be just as fruitful.
- Set Your Summer Service Goal. Sure, summer calendars may be crowded with camps and vacations and much-needed down time. But don’t forget to make room for kindness during these halcyon, home-work-free days. Some summer favorites include picking up a Meals on Wheels route, hosting a lemonade stand on behalf of a charity you love, or reading to an elderly friend at a nearby nursing home.
It seems we began with a spring bucket list and concluded with summer planning, but we all know how fast this season of renewal lasts. Make the most of it! By choosing a project that interests you and putting it on the calendar now, you’ll be sure to make some lasting, meaningful memories from now through the end of summer.
Sarah Aadland, MPP, Directs Doing Good Together’s Big-Hearted Families™ program and shares the trials and tribulations of her family’s kindness practice on the organization’s blog.
