Service Project

As I was planning our first week of homeschool, I decided I wanted to close out the week with a service project. I wanted to do something that was very hands-on, as I know that is LB's favorite, and is always what makes the biggest impact. If you are local then I highly recommend checking out the nonprofit, Seeds of Caring. It was founded by a mom I know who is a social worker. As she started having kids she noticed that there were very few volunteer opportunities for younger kids. Most of the service activities she found were for kids ages 12 or older. That is where she came up with the idea for Seeds of Caring. Pre-Covid they offered in person volunteer opportunities for young kids and they have been really creative in continuing the projects so families can still learn, participate and serve while at home. The goal is to introduce kids to issues related to social justice and to provide a tangible way for them to be caring members of our community. For the month of September you could register to make snack bags for the homeless. So that is what we did! The bags are distributed to another nonprofit, Faith Mission, and they work directly with folks in our city experiencing homelessness.

Seeds of Caring provided the at-home activity kit, which included a list of suggested snack ideas, caring cards for kids to color, reflection questions to pose to the kids while they are coloring and packing the bags, and suggestions of books to read or videos to watch. We invited our neighborhood friend, BA, to participate with us because I knew LB would have more fun that way. I put out the quart sized bags and the four snacks out on the table like an assembly line and the kids put them together. I asked them questions like, "What do you think would be the hardest part of being homeless?" BA said, "It would be really hard not to go to the grocery store whenever you want." LB said, "It would be hard to be hungry." After they assembled the kits, they spent some time on the caring cards. When we finished the cards we added them to the snack bags. BA spent A LOT of time on her first card. She said, "I am putting a lot of love and caring into mine." It was very sweet. I was proud of the effort they put into their cards.

Earlier this week, LB and I were out running errands and he saw someone standing on the side of the road holding a sign and asking for help. Unfortunately, we see this quite often in our city. LB really wanted to do something and I reminded him that we did help by making snack bags for Faith Mission. That wasn't good enough for him because he wanted to help that person. When we got home he went into the pantry and started filling a snack bag with some pre-packaged snacks we had at the house. He said he wanted to keep some in our car so when we are out we can help. I love that this project provided him with the opportunity to feel like he could take action himself. Thank you, Seeds of Caring, for making our Friday fun AND meaningful.