Volunteer ideas for kids

[steve s]

My near-nonegenarian MIL's neighbor kids have done stuff for years that helps her. Little stuff like they take her garbage bins to the curb for pickup every week. Not much effort frothe kids but it is a big deal that they do this stuff. Over the years thay nad their mom have grown a close reationship with the MIL. Like we have more relatives now.

My cat rescue org uses Junior volunteers. They clean cat messes and spend time socializing the cats to make them more adoptable., The HS aged kids we've had have been a joy. I imagine similar orgs in other towns do this.

[Stella]

Awesome, awesome ideas everyone! I am loving this thread. There are so many ways to do good!

Grandpa (my dad) has been wanting to donate to the food shelf every week, so we made a deal with him that if he gives us the money ($100 a week) we will do the shopping and delivery as part of our service hours. We are also volunteering with a baby things drive again next week and the week after. In August Charlotte's Godfather is spearheading a walk to raise money for the homeless. One mile per person (babies count) transfers $10 from a grant fund to the homelessness charity. There are seven of us, so that is $70 and even baby Charlotte gets to do some good. It's close to home too, at Silverwood Park.

Now I'm trying to decide how many service hours I want to require a month. I'm thinking maybe 6-8 to start. That's 1.5-2 hours a week. That seems reasonable and doable. I am already finding this to be a really rewarding thing for all of us.