I love family service projects! It’a a wonderful way to strengthen family relationships and help our children learn the happiness that comes from serving others. One of my favorite ways to serve is to look on JustServe.com for ideas. You can narrow your search by your zip code or the ages of your children. Sometimes it can be a little tricky to find projects that my 4 and 7 year old can help with and having it work with our family schedule. Teaching our family to serve is dear to my heart. I want them to serve around the home, in their schools and communities. We are trying to teach our kids that we don’t need to wait for a project to come along to help others.
Last month I was finally driving some clothing donations down to Glendale to the International Rescue Committee to help local refugees. On the way back I was pondering how I could help more when I got an idea. Donating from our family is a great way to start. But if I could invite others and involve my children I could bless so many other lives. I decided to have a community service project where my children could pass out flyers to our neighbors and we can invite others to donate clothing so they too can receive blessings. And honestly those donations I had just donated sat in my garage for a good couple of months before I took them to International Rescue Committee. We would be serving our neighbors by taking donations off their hands and saving time as just one car had to drive all the way to our local donation center.
And if I could create a flyer that I could then share with my readers it might make it easier for families across the world to help others. Our family wanted to help local refugees, but you could also collect clothing for foster care, women’s shelters, or veterans. International Rescue Committee was really in need of clothing, especially little boys clothing. They also said they were always in need of laundry detergent. We decided to collect clothing and laundry detergent. With school starting soon I knew it would be the perfect time for families to clean out closets and take inventory on what they need for the new school year.
Send me an email if you want this flyer to help organize a clothing drive in your area!
The first thing you should do is to teach your children about who you are going to help. I made the mistake of heading out with my kids to deliver flyers to our neighbors without explaining who refugees are and why they needed help. My kids were able to have better attitudes in the summer heat when they knew who they were helping and why they needed help. And it made it easier for my youngest boy to give away his Lego Batman shirt he has grown out of when I told him there might be a younger boy who also loves Lego Batman. These small sacrifices help them appreciate the blessings we have in our home.
This family service project idea is really easy. Simple modify the PDF file I have available to include your pick up time and contact information. Choose a night to pass out the flyers. We rode bikes and scooters as we went around the neighborhood. Leave them at the doors of your neighbors. You can also post it to a FB group if you have one for your community. The following week we rode around and collected items that were left on the porches.
This service idea is perfect around the holidays, the new year, spring, or when school starts. These are times when people are usually cleaning out closets. But there is never a bad time to help others.
We were so thankful for friends that supported us and donated clothing or laundry detergent. And thankfully we have lots of friends with lots of boys in their families. IRC was so grateful for our donation. It was wonderful to load up my car with clothes that will bless families in need. One friend told me she had clothes sitting in a donation pile for over a year. She was thankful we could help them get to a good place. Again we see lots of families being blessed when we join together to help others.
I hope our dear brothers and sisters who have had to leave their home can feel of our love as they pick out clothes for their families. Small sacrifices can make a difference. And don’t be discouraged if you only collect 5 bags of clothing. Every bit helps. And sharing with our community places that need donations might help our neighbors when they do have things they need to donate.
I am so thankful for the chance for my family has to help others and to remember the times others have helped our family. Teaching little hands that they can make a difference can help change the world.
If you are able to hold a community clothing drive I would love to hear how it goes. Share in the comments below or tag me on social media. Or share your favorite donation center to help other readers. Together we can make the world a better place. And for more ideas on how to help click over to JustServe.org .
