Life Notes
By Stacy Hawkins Adams
Theme: Teaching Children to Volunteer Early Can Reap Long-Term Rewards
The season of giving (also known in many households with young children as “give me, give me, give me”) is upon us, regardless of whether we’re ready.
I like to blame it on retail stores, which began stocking shelves with holiday décor and trinkets before Halloween hit the dust. And those warm and fuzzy commercials, featuring soft music and smiling youngsters that make the children in your life think they need just what that kid has to be happy.
Somehow, it’s easy for Thanksgiving to get lost in the shuffle, becoming little more than a placeholder before the holiday shopping blitz begins.
Yet, in this year of record job losses and economic woes, now is a good time to consider other forms of gift giving. More and more often, giving one’s time, and doing so as a family, is becoming a trend.
Grassroots organizations have sprung up around the country to help parents find opportunities to serve their community with their kids in tow.
Heather Jack launched The Volunteer Family in Massachusetts soon after giving birth to her daughter six years ago.
“I began to search in the Boston area where I live, and I realized there was not an organization in this country that really helped parents find places where they could volunteer with their children,” said Jack, whose also has a son, now 3.
Jack created www.TheVolunteerFamily.org and eventually began collaborating with organizations willing to accept help from adults and children.
The website now boats 30,000 volunteer opportunities available to parents and their children in 40 states, including Virginia.
“A lot of parents will find something that really works for them and their kids,” she said. “Volunteering helps children feel valued. They learn new skills. They develop a sense of compassion and understanding.
“Working parents are looking for a way to spend more time with their children, and stay at home parents tend to feel isolated now and then,” Jack said. “This is a great way to get involved with their kids.”
Jenny Friedman witnessed similar rewards for families soon after she established Doing Good Together, a Minneapolis, Minn. organization that provides opportunities for parents to volunteer with their children.
“Virtually every family says something like, ‘It’s made us more of a team; it’s made us closer,’” Friedman said. “When I push a little further about what that means, a lot of it has to do with the conversations that happen around the volunteer effort. You end up talking about what matters to you when you’re doing a project like this.
“Everyone is so scattered and busy with soccer practice or homework or trying to get dinner on the table. This is an oasis of time where families can really be together.”
Later this month, the Children’s Museum of Richmond will provide an opportunity for local families to learn more about the rewards of serving others together.
The museum will host a family volunteering fair on Sat., Nov. 22 - National Family Volunteering Day.
The fair is free and open to the public, and will be held in the museum lobby.
Families can obtain information about the kinds of help local charities, such as the Richmond SPCA, Children’s Hospital and the James River Association, need to thrive and better serve the public. Even the Children’s Museum will provide details about opportunities it offers for parents and children to donate their time.
“The important thing about family volunteering is that you have tasks for varying levels of (capability),”said Alison Jones-Nassar, volunteer coordinator of the Children’s Museum. “Even very young children can have some part to play so they can feel a measure of success.”
Whatever your children’s ages, it’s important to emphasize that volunteering is not about being elitist, volunteer coordinators say.
“Don’t let this be about the rich giving to the poor or the fortunate giving to the less fortunate,” Friedman, with Doing Good Together, said. “It’s about the fact that everybody has something to offer and everybody needs help sometimes. We volunteer because we’re better off as a society when everybody does their part.”
The habits formed now could last a lifetime, Friedman said.
“You’re two to three times more likely to be involved in the community as an adult if you did it as a child,” she said. “Parents are creating a legacy with their children and creating a new generation of philanthropists.”
©Stacy Hawkins Adams
