Community Service / Volunteering ideas for kids/parents

[tbone_ 13968]

So my 8th grader has been struggling with motivation related to school work lately. She seems like she’s in a bit of a funk which is certainly not uncommon these days and probably very much related to covid, her own positive test and recent quarantine, our divorce, and generally being 13.

 

Someone gave me what I thought was some very good advice the other day: one of the best ways to get out of a funk is to go do something nice for other people. So I’m looking for ways she and I can get involved in community service together but not sure really where to start.

 

Anyone have suggestions on how to go about this? (We’re in Phoenix if that matters)

[NeverMarryAStripper 21765]

My oldest son lives in Phoenix.  He does pro bono legal work on the Indian Reservation and for incarcerated people.  He just won a case for one in front of the Arizona Supreme court.  I guess that's not something you and your 8th grader can probably do though.

[RMac5 1541]

My boys/family volunteer at our local Snack Pack 4 Kids, it’s a program for school kids that need food. It’s actually pretty fuckin cool what they do. They build these lunch sacks and sneak them into the kids lockers during class. They do it on Friday’s during class so the other kids don’t know, it gives the kids something to eat over the weekend when they are out of school.

Might be hard to find something with the pandemic. Good luck on the search. I think volunteering is good for the soul.

[gyroprotagonist 2591]

so this was an option for our company's virtual day of service and I thought it was pretty kick ass and older kids could totally help as well.

apparently there is a thing called Story Pirates podcast that has a big following with kids.  https://www.storypirates.com/

- anyway, the jist of it is that kids submit their own stories and mail/email them to the story pirate.  They read/animate some on them 'on air' but the vast majority obviously don't make it.  So the service that we did was to spend some time to read and give feedback on a bunch of the kids' submissions.  You just mainly give encouragement and ask them to expand on particular point, maybe something they could try next time ect...

So it's pretty cool to encourage kids to write and it could be done virtually.

This is the link that looks like the volunteer part: https://storypirateschangemakers.org/story-love

 

[High Plains Drifter 10916]

 

Try a local food bank. My wife volunteers  every other sat morning to help pass out food. My daughter (10) goes with her most times. Although the daughter has been not going since the covid started getting bad.

 

[deadshank 24644]

Go ring the bell and man the kettle for the Salvation Army.  It’s a blast.  Did it for 3 Christmas seasons out in front of the Target on San Felipe on the west side of River Oaks.  (People I knew ran into me there and thought I fell on hard times.  They’re idoits).  
 

Don’t forget your Santa hat.   
 

[RMac5 1541]

And a flask.

[Rimbo 25212]

we usually just do whatever the court order says to do

[Guest]

11 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

 

Try a local food bank. My wife volunteers  every other sat morning to help pass out food. My daughter (10) goes with her most times. Although the daughter has been not going since the covid started getting bad.

 

This.  Big time.   Multiple layers of lessons learned.  Humility. Generosity. Empathy.  Sense of community.

One way to find other charities/ community service needs is to ask at your local city hall( smaller town) or JP.  They use them for writing off citations of minors, but they sometimes have more 'needs' than tickets.  It could end up being "pick up trash at park and raking leaves" but given Cv-19 concerns, that could be a definite win.

Edit: LOl @Rimbo

Edited November 21, 2020 by slorch

[Knoxtnhorn 5906]

Thanks for the thread.  I also have an 8th grader that could use this experience.  He's a very empathetic and sweet kid, but he's never really had to deal with any type of adversity.  My 3rd grader DEFINITELY needs to learn some life lessons.  He's a pretty good kid, but his ADHD keeps hampers his ability to see past the next 5 seconds of life.  

I volunteered quite a bit growing up - Parkland Hospital, AIDS Interfaith Clinic, many Thanksgiving/Christmas days at homeless shelters, YWCA, etc... I wasn't the biggest fan of having to do so (thanks mom), but I learned quite a bit.

Again, thanks for bringing this to my attention.  Life has been going so quickly lately, that this idea somehow escaped me.

[High Plains Drifter 10916]

 

Another idea: dog walking at the local shelter. I have a friend who works at a shelter, and they are always sending out pleas for people to come walk dogs.