“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.” – The Dalai Lama
We strongly believe that all people should be concerned about their neighbors’ welfare. We hope people do what they can to help those less fortunate around them. And while it is relatively simple for an adult to get involved in any number of community organizations, it is much more difficult to find something that is truly family friendly.
To wit: We’re searching for a way to volunteer within a charitable organization as a family (2 parents with kids of ages 3 and 10.)
As stated, we have found it very hard to find an event that truly embraces kids’ heavy involvement. For years, we were deeply committed to a local charity bicycle fundraiser. But we continually struggled to find a true way for our kids to connect with this event. We went as far as submitting an official proposal to organizers that would expand the charitable function to make it more family friendly. When that dead-ended, we decided to sever our relationship with the organization after years of participation.
Why is it so hard for charitable events to find meaningful ways to encourage kids’ involvement? Sadly, we feel the main reason is that the organizations don’t appear to be trying. Sure, you can find little mini marathons for kids prior to a main adult race. Or you’ll find that kids are welcome to clap and cheer at designated stations for participants. Small, throw-away gestures to kids are available in many charitable occurrences- mostly from organizations that have aiding children as part of their mission statements.
But try to arrange a way to truly inter-weave your entire family into the main charitable fundraiser and you’ll probably face huge obstacles. Most organizations have a cut-off for volunteers that are under 16 years of age. You may locate one or two events that will accept children 13 years of age or older. But if your family has anyone younger than 13 – good luck! They may let your child works beside you, in an ‘unofficial’ capacity, but we’ve yet to find any charitable event willing to allow our entire family into the whole experience.
We want our kids to be counted. We want them to be welcomed as fully capable individuals able to contribute to positive change in their world. We don’t get why this is so difficult for organizations to wrap their heads around. We know that we complicate this mission further by searching for a multiple day charitable happening. But we want our kids to be deeply connected. We don’t wish to show up once a year for one hour and then go on our merry way. That would be far to fleeting an experience to leave a lasting, memorable impression on our children.
We’d love to hear your family volunteering experiences and your suggestions!