Looking for ideas for serving others in the community

[Deanna in TN]

Let me start out by saying that I didn't grow up in a family or a community where people served each other. Everyone just took care of themselves, so it's not natural for me to see needs in others. I wish it was, and I have been praying about that the Lord would help me. I have one son (going into 7th) and we deliver Meals on Wheels once a month. I would love to hear about things that your family does to serve people.

Thanks,

Deanna

[Jean in Newcastle]

Our family has a Bible Study at an assisted living apartment building every Wednesday. My dh (a pastor) leads the study, I often sing and lead music, my ds10 runs the sound system and makes CDs of the meetings, dd6 lets all the elderly hug her and pinch her cheeks.

[readwithem]

My dd and I enjoy ushering for a small local theater group.

[emzhengjiu]

I keep a basket on our table to be filled with non-perishable food. When its full, we take it to local food banks or pantries. It's kept on our table as a visible reminder to be grateful to God for his blessings to us and our responsibility before God to share with others.

[Lisawa]

Let me start out by saying that I didn't grow up in a family or a community where people served each other. Everyone just took care of themselves, so it's not natural for me to see needs in others. I wish it was, and I have been praying about that the Lord would help me. I have one son (going into 7th) and we deliver Meals on Wheels once a month. I would love to hear about things that your family does to serve people.

Thanks,

Deanna


Something my middle daughter has been doing w/ youth group is having sock drives for the homeless in Seattle. They spend a morning making peanut butter and jelly sandwich's and they pass them out and talk with people.

We go to Seattle for children's plays and the science center about 6 times out of a regular school year, so when we go, we will bag up new socks peanut butter sandwich's and water to pass out while we are their.

The kids had coat drives before, but believe it or not, socks are scarce in comparison to coats.... who knew?

[Pretty in Pink]

if you belong to a church you might inquire about their benevolence ministries. our church has a list of volunteers willing to prepare meals for families on a moments notice, another list of people willing to pick up and deliver these meals, a group that volunteers in a "soup kitchen" downtown, a list of people in charge of preparing cards to be sent out to visitors, new members, etc.

something easy that we can all do is to collect non-perishable goods to donate to the needy, which can be donated to many organizations within the community.

something we have particularly enjoyed is "volunteering" at the local assisted living facility. my kids are all still relatively young but when i asked about volunteering with the children we were invited back to play bingo with the residents, attend their monthly birthday party and other holiday celebrations, etc. this has been such a special experience for my boys!

[Brindee]

For her 10th Bday, my dd decided to have a donation for the local Humane Society. She had a cat and dog themed party, and had the kids bring stuff to donate to the Humane Society instead of presents for her. 3 of her friends stayed overnight, and the next day we went to the HS and donated the items. DD had also typed out a request for donations and handed them out to some neighbors. So by the time we went to drop the stuff off, there was well over $300 worth of items and food! The HS people were thrilled!

[Mamabegood]

I love this question! Good for you for teaching your son to serve others!

This is what our family does:
Two or three times a month, we (my dh and I, and our four oldest kids) make sack lunches for homeless people. The kids make the sandwiches, decorate the bags, and include an index card with a picture and a message (like a sunshine and "We prayed for you!", or a flower and "We care about you!"). We make about 5 lunches that include a sandwich, some chips or crackers, and a piece of fruit and/or a cookie. We also grab a couple of water bottles for each person.

Then we drive around looking for homeless people and give out the lunches. Usually it takes around an hour. We've been doing it for about 6 months now, and it's been a very positive experience. I was worried in the beginning that people might not respond well, or they might be a little bit "scary," but they are really just grateful. We've had some amazing encounters. I can't tell you how good this has been for my children. For us, we see Jesus in each person we help, and it feels GREAT!!!

Good luck on your search. :001_smile:

[Sue G in PA]

Not necessarily "serving", but, this summer we are planning to do a "bless our neighbors" project. I have so many Stampin Up! supplies for making cards and such. My kids love to do crafts. My plan is to make a bunch of "thinking of you" cards or "thank you" (for being a great neighbor) or whatever cards and deliver them to our neighbors a few at a time. People LOVE to get mail and I'd sure love to get a "thinking of you" card from a neigbor (signed or not). I'm not sure whether we'll sign them or not (it's not meant to be a "pump US up" project...rather the opposite, KWIM?). Another idea is to make cookies or brownies or something and deliver them as well...just in person. I'm not totally sure about regs for putting mail in mailboxes so I don't know if we'll hand deliver or just put it on top of the mailboxes.

Anyway, that's my idea. I also had the idea of getting a list of the people living in our local nursing home and their birthdays and making birthday cards and delivering them once each month. If the home would let us, my kids and I and dh could make animal balloons and do a "party" of sorts each month for all birthdays in that month. I'm not sure how that would all work b/c my brain is still slowly working out the details. :D Great ideas so far, btw!

[Diana in OR]

Let me start out by saying that I didn't grow up in a family or a community where people served each other. Everyone just took care of themselves, so it's not natural for me to see needs in others. I wish it was, and I have been praying about that the Lord would help me. I have one son (going into 7th) and we deliver Meals on Wheels once a month. I would love to hear about things that your family does to serve people.

Thanks,

Deanna

Here are some ideas. They aren't necessarily focused on "need" although they are in the larger scheme of things. These are just different than what I've seen mentioned.

Volunteer at your local ps--really! I know other hsers who have gone in with their older dc to work with elementary students one on one or other activities.

Help at the Human Society. Around here, you can start walking the dogs with an adult at age 12.

Pick up litter.

Remove grafitti.

Volunteer with your local parks (there are probably lots of different types of opportunities).

Volunteer with your police dept.

[milovaný]

You can check with the international studies department to see about meeting and hosting international students (for a meal or activity, not to have them live with you necessarily). We do this and it's great fun, plus the students love it and are extremely grateful for the opportunity to spend time with Americans, outside the college setting. Tomorrow night we are taking 3 gals from Japan and 1 from China to a homeschooling families picnic; you can have meals in your home, take them shopping or sightseeing, meet them on campus for English language practice, etc.

HTH!