Volunteering as a Family
One of the most important things parents can do for their children is to raise them with a sense of responsibility and concern for their community. Children need guidance from their parents to help direct their time and attention toward activities which will help them to become compassionate adults and concerned citizens.
Spending time volunteering together as a family for a meaningful cause is an important way parents can model a heart of compassion for others. By getting involved in community outreaches together, family members have more opportunities to strengthen their relationships while making positive changes within the community.
So, at what age should parents begin to think about involving their children in community service? While there may be age requirements in certain organizations, helping others is at the heart of volunteering and even young children can be taught to look for ways to help out.
Let everyone in the family help gather some much needed supplies for a local food pantry. Or, begin a discussion about people who lack basic necessities such as food and clothing while dropping off a donation to a local thrift shop. Thought provoking discussions about ways to help the less fortunate are both meaningful and memorable for children.
While it’s never too early to begin training children to look for ways to help others, it’s also never too late. The teenage years are a great time to start volunteering as a family. Youth Pastor, Scott George, of Golden Gate Assembly of God in Naples, acknowledges that volunteering helps teens gain greater appreciation and respect for the privileges others have provided for them. He says, “Service helps them to appreciate where they live, and come to respect where they are. I would love to live in a community where teenagers appreciate clean streets, beautiful and safe city parks, and city attractions that they can go to and enjoy without seeing things run down, destroyed, vandalized…”
So, what options are available to local families interested in doing some community service work? Following are three opportunities in Naples that provide a chance for the family to volunteer together.
The Humane Society of Naples
The Humane Society of Naples offers several different volunteering opportunities available from fostering pets to walking dogs. While the minimum age to volunteer is 12 (with parental supervision), families with younger children can help out by giving a temporary home to a deserving furry friend. The Humane Society provides the supplies while the hosting family provides the love.
Volunteers for the Humane Society can volunteer as often as they’d like. Some volunteers help just once a year at special events or projects, while others help more frequently. There are also several different levels of volunteering that take place at the HSN. Level one includes reception/administrative work, cat/dog care, special events and the walk-a-hound program. Level two includes dog training, pet education to the community, therapy dog team and more. The HSN provides training for both levels of volunteer work. For more information on volunteering at the HSN, contact Volunteer Coordinator, Kathy Gumph at 643-1555 x 35 or e-mail volunteers@hsnaples.org.
In their own words, “The Humane Society Naples could not function without volunteers. Not only do they play an integral part in the organization’s day-to-day operations, but they are also its leaders. All of our board of directors are unpaid volunteers and they set policy and decide what the organization will do. In reality, our 23-person staff works not just with volunteers, but for them, too. It’s a great community to be in where everyone comes together to help orphaned pets find homes and gives you a feeling of accomplishment that is very hard to describe.”
Kids Against Hunger of Southwest Florida
Kids Against Hunger of Southwest Florida, is the community and international project of The Rotary Club of Naples, with the goal to package and distribute fortified rice casseroles to those in need.
The group organizes and runs food packaging programs throughout the area. A packaging event is a community-involved project. During the event, participants will be trained and supervised in how to package the food. Training takes about ten minutes, the rest of the time is spent packaging the food. There is no heavy lifting and there are jobs for everyone regardless of age or ability. Some participants will be pouring the ingredients into the bags, others will be weighing the bags, others will be sealing the bags, runners will bring the sealed bags to people who box and palletize the finished meals. Children as young as three years old have participated. Church groups, civic organizations, schools and senior citizen groups have all participated in packaging the Kids Against Hunger Meals.
Packaging meals is simple. The ingredients of rice, soy protein, dried vegetables, vitamins/minerals and chicken flavoring are a complete, nutritious meal
A typical packaging event lasts about two hours. During that time, each person normally packages around 350 meals. That means that in an event with 285 people, 100,000 meals will be packaged in just two hours!
Packaging Event hosts are asked to raise money to cover the cost of the number of meals packaged at their event. The standard donation is $25 per person at each event. There are NO administrative charges. 100% of all money raised goes to pay for the cost of the meals.
Kids Against Hunger gives the meals away free of charge with a distribution network utilizing the Harry Chapin Food Bank, and Collier Harvest. Between both organizations the meals are distributed to over 200 agencies in Southwest Florida including St Matthew’s House. In addition food has been sent to Jamaica and Haiti.
For more information contact Stephen Popper at (239) 537-7775 or email info@kidsagainsthungerofswfl.org.
St. Matthew’s House
St. Matthew’s House is committed to offering short term help that has lasting effects in our community. According to Direct Assistance and Volunteer Coordinator, Kerri Plogher, it’s done through the help of their many volunteers. She says, “Volunteers are crucial to St. Matthew’s House. We have around 500 active volunteers throughout the year. The majority of all of our meals, bags of groceries given out, and thrift operations are done through the services of volunteers. We value and appreciate all of their services.”
Families who volunteer at St. Matthew’s House can help prepare meals to be served to their residents as well as at the soup kitchen. There are opportunities to help at one of their three thrift stores located in Naples, Bonita Springs and Immokalee. About 200 volunteers are needed for special events such as the upcoming Taste of Collier.
St. Matthew’s House is also participating in the Give a Day Get a Day program through Disney where volunteers can volunteer one day and receive a free ticket to Disney. Those interested in volunteering at St. Matthew’s House can contact Kerri Plogher at 239-298-5033 or to get more information at their website at www.stmatthewshouse.org. As stated on their website, when you see the effectiveness of this non-profit organization, it’s hard not to help.
Jennifer Morgan is a local homeschooling mother and freelance writer. She is a regular contributor to Neapolitan Family.