Volunteering With Your Child

Instilling values such as conscientiousness and kindness in our children is a universal desire. One effective method to achieve this is through volunteering. This hands-on approach exposes them to various situations where they learn to be considerate and compassionate towards others. The act of volunteering often involves helping those in need, allowing children to understand the importance of these values in a practical context.

How Does Volunteering Help Kids?

Volunteering is a great way to teach kids about empathy and compassion. Volunteering encourages social responsibility, and provides opportunities for children to practice kindness in real-world scenarios. And giving your time to help others feels good. Volunteering with your family can be fun. You might even find that doing an activity together can make your family feel closer. 

Kids and teens who volunteer may:

• See that they can make a difference. Even young kids can learn the value of helping others. Volunteering shows older kids and teens how they can have an impact beyond themselves. 
• Meet people with similar values. Volunteering often brings together people from different races, backgrounds, and abilities. Families can build friendships with others who share common interests and values.
• Practice life skills. Volunteering helps kids build skills and confidence. Kids learn to show up on time and be a member of a team. They might even take on a leadership role. Teens can talk about their volunteer work at a job interview or in a college application. 
• Learn about different careers. Volunteering at a nonprofit, a hospital, or a political campaign office may give your child a glimpse of what it’s like to work there.

How Can Families Volunteer?

Volunteer projects come in all sizes. You might want to start small, like spending an hour helping someone you know. Or you can make a bigger commitment, like coming to the Hearts Campus every month. Some families pick a favorite project and make it a yearly tradition, like filling gift bags of travel-size toiletries for our homeless brothers and sisters around the holidays.

Here are some ideas:

• Host a food drive. Hosting a food drive on behalf of Hearts is a way for kids to work together to help those facing food insecurity in our community. They can also collect travel-size toiletries or winter clothing items (gloves, hats, socks, etc.).
• Feed the hungry. There’s always a need to sort food donations on the Hearts Campus for our various food pantries. You can sign up for a two hour time slot to help us stock shelves in the Hearts Harvest Food Pantry or Hearts Food Pantry Express. 
• Start a letter-writing campaign. Write letters to people who need a boost, like our homeless brothers and sisters.

For more information on volunteering at Hearts, visit our website today.

Please note that an adult must volunteer with children and teens under the age of 18 on Hearts Campus.

. . 

.