Happy holidays! Service is one of our favorite virtues! We love to try to help others all throughout the year, but during this season we really like to get into the holiday spirit by making some extra special time for giving and sharing. We’ve tried to find charities that we can volunteer at, but unfortunately we’ve found that many organizations want you to at least be in the double digits before participating. But we don’t want that to stop us from helping where we can! So, we’ve come up with a bunch of ways that kids can learn to serve by helping and volunteering.
Samaritan’s Purse International Relief is an organization that aids the world’s poor, sick and suffering by providing food, medicine and other assistance to hurting people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease and famine. Operation Christmas Child is one of their programs where you make care packages for needy children around the world. First, you pack a shoebox full of gifts, like toys, hygiene items and school supplies. Then, you choose if you’d like it to go to a boy or a girl. Finally, you can include a family photo and a personal note to your new friend. You might even get a thank you note in return! We like to say a prayer over our boxes for the children they are going to as well!
We haven’t found a soup kitchen that young kids can work at yet, so we decided to make our own meals to help feed the homeless in our city. We filled brown paper bags with homemade PB&Js, fruit, veggies and treats and brought them downtown. There were streets filled with tents where people were living. It filled our hearts with compassion to visit them. They were overjoyed to see us and were grateful for the food and blankets we brought them (water bottles, socks, toothbrushes and wet wipes are great additions too!). We only made 35 lunches and realized that next time we need to make a lot more!
And here are some other ideas of how you can help out in the world:
Make candles and give as gifts to spread your love and light to others
Leave a basket of goodies out for all the delivery people
Deliver unwrapped toys
Have a playdate with someone lonely or a friend in need
Bring cookies to neighbors
Do errands, cook or help (& pray for) someone with an illness or disabled
Help at a local soup kitchen or food shelter
Double up the meal your making for dinner and surprise a single mom
Walk an elderly neighbor’s dog, collect mail, shovel snow (secretly!)
Clear closets and playrooms of outgrown clothes, toys, sports equipment and books to donate gently used items to those less fortunate
Send Christmas cards/letters to children in underprivileged countries or children of service members
Get your dog certified as a therapy dog and bring it to hospitals and schools
Hand deliver your old movie DVDs to children in the hospital or a family shelter
Volunteer at a Ronald McDonald House
Go room-to-room singing Christmas carols around a convalescent home
Volunteer at a local animal shelter, playing, brushing and cleaning up after the animals
Practice your reading by reading to smaller children or the elderly
Paint nails at a nursing home
Buy an extra bag of groceries while at the store and donate to a family in need
And, if you have a mobile device, try out the Oceanhouse Media FREE app: act-Be the Change You Wish to See in the World. The app sends you daily acts of kindness that you can do to make a positive change in the world. The app may be free, but it gives so much value to others!
It feels so good to be of service. We don’t know who gets more out of all these different acts of kindness, those we are hoping to help…….or us!
Happy holidays everyone! May they be safe, full of joy, peace and love!
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