Introducing Volunteer Opportunities to your Littles :: It Only Takes a Little, to Give a Lot

Community service has been a pending item on my to-do list for a few years now, but life gets busy (embarrassed to say that). In January, I made a vision board for the New Year and as I put the glue stick to the magazine clipping I decided I had to set up a year-round plan to accomplish serving others throughout the year, and not just over the holidays. I had to get my planner out and schedule it in, and plan to volunteer just as I would any other appointment. The icing on the cake: I need to teach my girls how to serve others and give back to their community starting now!

Here are a few simple yet impactful ways you can get started serving others:

1. Donate breast milk – Are you pumping and have extra milk left over? Head on over to the Mother’s Milk Bank of North Texas with your little and donate liquid gold to the premature babies of North Texas. About 80% of the pasteurized donor milk goes to the tiniest preemies first typically weighing about 3.5 pounds or less and the remaining 20% goes to other babies who are in delicate medical conditions. I donated about 1,300 ounces and toured the facility with my baby. You can take older siblings too! Contact: 817-810-0071 or [email protected]

2. Park Clean-up – We all visit our neighborhood park, some daily, weekly, monthly, yearly. Dedicate the last 5-10 minutes of your park visit with your kids to volunteer and pick up trash, maybe fix up the blocks or wipe down a few tables (wipes!) to show some love to your local park and to serve the community or the next family that comes to visit. I like to explain to my girls what we are about to do and why we are going to do it. The oldest even recruits other helpers on the playground!

3. Letters – I recently went to a local Etsy Dallas Love letters event in February to volunteer to make cards for the homebound seniors that were registered for the Dallas Meals on Wheels program. It was a perfect family event and my girls pretty much mastered getting glue all over their clothes, but it was for a great cause. Consider throwing a letters party of your own with family, friends and your kids and consider giving them to Operation Gratitude to express thanks to deployed troops, veterans, new recruits and first responders. They have a great resource guide on how to get started. Tip: Start a Facebook event for this and invite your friends to make this happen soon!

4. Craft with the cool kids of Scottish Rite Hospital – If you’re looking for something to do that involves other kiddos, check out Scottish Rite Hospital Child Life Events. Please note, no children are allowed–only adults, but only because you are serving other children that could use some extra TLC. So far, I’ve done water coloring with the kids. In April I have a “decorate your cup challenge” where they will be putting inspirational messages on a fun cup of water. I figured water is an important part of their daily routine so why not make it a little fun by reading “I’m beautiful” or “I’m strong” over and over again. They have open time slots Monday through Thursdays at 11am, 2:30pm, or 6:30pm. They also take groups so bring a friend! I bring these same activities home to my tots at home. The water coloring craft I did led to me scoring one of their paintings. This made for a great opportunity to tell my tots where I was, what I was doing, and why I did it. Contact: 214-559-7829 or [email protected]

5. Shop & Give – How many of us prefer to shop on Amazon? Like that’s even a question, right? Since you already do that, please make sure to start making purchases on amazon.com and choose a non-profit to give to while you shop. I was excited to see my daughter’s school on Smile Amazon! It’s no extra charge to you. Basically, items that qualify, will give a percentage back to the organization of your choice. Do you have your child’s birthday coming up? Encourage them to only choose items that could potentially benefit a non-profit.

For more ideas around town, check out the Best Places to Volunteer in Dallas. The purpose is to do or talk about these service activities with your littles, to get these conversations started at ANY age.  I challenge you to get your planner out and incorporate any one of these simple and totally doable activities before summer hits! Are you in?