Hellobee Boards

I volunteer with LO, and 4 is definitely old enough to get it! A lot of places have minimum age restrictions for children volunteering there (like at the soup kitchen, for example), even if the child wouldn’t be doing any work and would just be there with an adult, so that’s an off the bat question to ask.

LO and I have sorted through her old clothing and toys and donated them to a local DV shelter – with that one, LO does all the picking, most of the putting into bags and we deliver the stuff together.

I also make Thanksgiving dinner and deliver it to a local homeless veterans shelter and LO helps me buy the food, cook the food and deliver it.

There are also organizations like Samaritan’s Purse; but I personally prefer to pick non-religiously affiliated groups if possible.

Also, you can also sponsor foster children through DHHS for the holidays. Last year I picked a girl that was LO’s age and a younger boy and LO picked out the gifts. It was a good opportunity to ask about being fortunate and about giving back.

Oh – and since you are local. One of my favorite organizations is Amistad (in Portland on State St.). It’s a member-run shelter and recovery center. They have showers there for use by members/public who are homeless and always need toiletry items, silverware and stuff for their kitchen, etc. So that’s another one that’s easy to buy for (I just let LO pick whatever travel size shampoo/conditioner/body wash she wants to at Target, we talk about issues and then drop things off together). (travel sized items are preferred to large sizes)

Following for ideas! I really like these suggestions.

Following as well. We want to incorporate more volunteering this year.

Last year at the holidays we did two things with our then 4+ year old:

1) made cookies and took them to the local fire department to show them our thanks for their service.

2) Visited a local nursing home and delivered "blessing bags" (this was a group activity). The blessing bags were socks, a personal care item like lotion and a book like a puzzle book or reader's digest or other magazine. We spent time giving them to the residents and sang a few Christmas carols.