Before I had kids, community service was a big part of my life. It wasn’t hard to find something to do on my own. But now that I have children, it is harder to find organizations that let us serve as a family. With a little research and creativity, we found opportunities that let kids in on the action.
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As parents, we want to teach our kids compassion, especially towards members of our own community. Unfortunately, finding opportunities that welcome volunteers of all ages is difficult. Hopefully, these three ideas help you volunteer as a family. After all, there is power even in the tiniest of helping hands.
1. Meals on Wheels Collin County
To deliver meals to senior citizens for Meals on Wheels Collin County (MOWCC), you and your spouse must pass a background check and attend orientation. Once that’s done, you and your entire family (no age limit!) can deliver meals to seniors. The way it works is that you sign up for a specific route on a specific day. On your assigned day, you pick up food and deliver it to homebound seniors. Most routes must be delivered by 1:00 p.m., but there are other routes available during evenings and on Saturdays. If your family is not available during delivery hours, y’all can sign up for a “one-off” opportunity.
One of our favorite “one-off” activities with MOWCC is creating Spring Boxes (Harvest Boxes in the fall). As a family, we shop for non-perishable food and household necessities like tissues and toilet paper. Then we pack it all up in a box that we decorate ourselves (the kids love this part!) and drop off at the McKinney location.
Another fun “one-off” is adopting a few seniors for the holidays. Together, we shop and deliver the presents. The kids love picking out stuff, and I love how our car ride becomes a conversation about those in our community who are in need and how we try to do what we can.
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2. North Texas Community Food Pantry
With a little help from your neighborhood Facebook page and a lot of help from your kids, you can collect items as a family for a local non-profit. This idea for “collection” community service comes from my neighbor and her kids. They walk the neighborhood collecting canned goods, even those past the “best by” date, and donate all of them to the North Texas Community Food Pantry on its Pantry Donation Saturdays, the first and third Saturday of each month between 10:00 a.m. and noon. You can easily do this for the local food pantry in your community.
This type of community service tends to be easier to do with littles because you can organize on your own time and according to your preference. Maybe your family is passionate about literacy or animals. Collect items for the local non-profit closest to your and your kids’s hearts:
- Books
- Hygiene Products
- Pet items (food, treats, toys, collars, harnesses, fleece blankets)
- Shoes
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3. Tango Charities — Feed the City Frisco
On the third Saturday of every month, volunteer families and groups come together to make meals for people in need. Ideally, you and your family bring everything needed to make the meals. For example, each family brings enough fixings (bread, deli meat, cheese, mayo, and mustard) to pack 25 – 30 sack lunches that include a sandwich, one bag of chips, and a tangerine. Don’t forget the Ziploc bags. Another organization that does something similar is Feed My Starving Children in Richardson.
If you have older kids, there are even more options:
- Frisco Fast Pacs
- Heard Museum
- Heritage Farmstead Museum
- Little Elm Love Pacs
- McKinney Little Free Pantry
- North Texas Food Bank
- Refresh Frisco and Little Elm
Happy volunteering as a family!
