Here are my plans for the first week of our month of giving. I would like to do one thing a day, however small it may be.
Sunday (today) – Go through the boys’ closet and donate outgrown clothes to the school closet, where needy families can pick out clothes for their children free of charge.
Monday – Go through the boys’ toys and donate unwanted, good-condition toys to the local Goodwill.
Tuesday – Volunteer at the boys’ school. Bring in 1-2 items from the 4k teacher’s supplies wishlist.
Wednesday – Make and mail out Holiday Mail for Heroes.
Thursday – Volunteer at the boys’ school.
Friday – Make cookies to bring to the boys’ classes, leave on neighbors’ doorsteps, and to send to husband overseas.
Saturday – Make holiday decorations for local nursing home, to be delivered when we volunteer there next.
I am looking forward to embarking on this with my boys. I’ve talked with a few other parents and received leads on volunteer positions all over our area. I will be making calls on those through this next week. If you have any ideas for inexpensive things we could do to give back to our community, neighbors, troops, etc, I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
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November 25, 2012 at 9:36 pm
Kate
Oh yes…take cookies to your local police station, fire department and ER.
Also, flowers, child drawn pictures and caroling at the local nursing home…they’ll really appreciate it. I used to take my boys up to our local old folks home and the boys would just run around and play, and talk and get
more hugs than they knew what to do with…Just having the kids’ noise and energy around made the seniors smile.
Old blankets, towels, sheets, etc. go to the local animal shelter. I hit up the thrift stores on dollar a bag day and stuff as many blankets as I can in that bag! Also, crib comforters make great dog beds, because they’re already finished and lightly stuffed.
You’re doing a good thing, teaching your kids that kindness and generosity are important, and not dependent on a deity.
November 25, 2012 at 11:31 pm
atheisthomesteader
Good ideas! I actually ran into another mom at the school who is a nurse at the retirement center. She said to get in touch with the activities director, so I’ll be calling tomorrow to try to schedule something for next week or maybe even a couple times this next month.
Great ideas on the crib comforters. I just got my boys new mattress covers because the elastic kept breaking off of the old ones. Didn’t want to throw them away. I’ll have to look into that. They’re the waterproof kind. I bet they’d be useful in a shelter.
Another mom had a great idea. She volunteers at the local food pantry. Brings in a new batch of cookies every week and helps them sort through donations.
Cookies for the firemen. My boys will love this one! We’ve visited the fire hall twice this fall already. Maybe we’ll make some holiday cards for them, too.
Thanks!