Family Volunteers from A Place to Grow, Inc. come together for Join Hands Day 2005 to put smiles on the faces of nursing home residents.

Family Volunteer Program

What is the Family Volunteer Program?

The Volunteer Center of RI (VCRI), in conjunction with the Points of Light Foundation, sees family volunteering as a substantial new approach to the realm of community service. VCRI has launched the Family Volunteer Program to encourage and engage families in community-oriented projects. The program is based on the Family volunteer Program of Points of Light Foundation and rests on a powerful principle;

“A volunteering family, regardless of how it is configured – whether two-parent, single parent, intergenerational, etc. – benefits the community, benefits itself, and the nation at large. Through volunteer activities, families enrich their relationships with one another, gaining insights into the challenges of other human beings.”

Family volunteering can be initiated by young children, by teenagers, by grandparents, by anyone who has an interest in contributing to their community. The Volunteer Center of Rhode Island has joined the national movement to make family volunteering the norm in America and invites you to do the same. There’s a role for everyone in family volunteering. In today’s society there are many definitions of “family”. It can include mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents and even neighbors and mentors. The bottom line is that all families can make a difference by getting involved in family volunteering.

At The Volunteer Center of Rhode Island, we plan to work toward this goal by:

• Educating Families on the benefits of volunteering as a unit
• Educating non-profit agencies of the value of utilizing families as a volunteer resource and empowering them with the resources & skills to do that.
• Educating corporations of the needs and benefits associated with including families in their employee volunteer initiatives.

For more information about how your family can share a tradition of caring, please contact Lynne Harper at (401) 421-6547 or e-mail her at lharper@vcri.org.

Benefits to Families that Volunteer Together

Volunteering Ideas for Families

Age Appropriate Ideas for Families

Benefits to Families that Volunteer Together

• Is fun!
• Is satisfying.
• Strengthens families.
• Helps others and strengthens communities.
• Improves family communication.
• Helps create a new generation of dedicated volunteers.
• Teaches kids values like kindness, empathy, respect, friendliness and tolerance.
• Teaches responsibility.
• Teaches useful skills and lets kids explore possible careers.
• Is a good way to meet people or make new friends in you community.
• Gives you & your children a new perspective on life.
• It Changes lives.
  

Volunteering Ideas for Families

Opening your heart and home

• Organize a fundraiser (run, walk, etc.) to send a child to summer camp
• Volunteer at a summer camp for children or adults with disabilities. Activities may include leading craft projects, teaching swimming, sing-a-longs, etc.
• Drive homebound residents to doctor appointments, the grocery store, or friends
• Volunteer at a zoo working with animals
• Help build a home or shelter
• Build walk bridges, BBQ pits, picnic tables or trails at local parks
• Host volunteer planning meetings with other families in your home
• Teach kids how to swim
• Become a surrogate family for adults who are developmentally disabled and include them in your family activities
• Take a homebound elderly friend to lunch or dinner
• Bring your pet to a nursing home to spend time with the residents
• Become a foster family
• Coordinate a food drive for people in your community
• Host a child or young adult for part of the summer

Helping hands/spruce up your community:

• Partner with another family to repair or paint the home of an elderly couple or needy family
• Organize a "window washing", "spring cleaning", or "yard day" for a needy non-profit or social service agency
• Organize a community "closet cleaning" day/week and donate old clothes and other items to a homeless shelter or other organization
• Plant and tend a garden for your neighbors

Music/Entertainment/Crafts:

• Give a puppet show at a local library
• Organize a sing-a-long at the children's hospital
• Arrange a youth history hour at a nursing home to encourage older people to talk with children about their histories
• Organize a musical instrument drive and donate the instruments to a charity or community center. Offer to give music lessons
• Ask a hospice what entertainment they enjoy and work with a family to organize the event
• Teach craft projects at a local homeless shelter, adult daycare or summer camp
• Organize and direct a play at a community center

Literacy/Reading:

• Write or read letters to visually-impaired individuals
• Create a family story hour and read to children in your neighborhood
• Volunteer with a local council to help people learn how to read

Advice/Current Affairs:

• Attend a city council meeting with other families to voice your opinion on a community issue
• Write a letter to your legislator about an issue that is important to your family

Environment:

• In towns where no recycling process is in place, collect papers, cans, glass, plastic, batteries and take them to a nearby receptacle or start recycling in your own community
• Take your family and other neighboring families to clean up the community. Select a nearby park, nature preserve, beach or other public area
• Provide animal care/aide for community parks or nature preserves
• Participate in a brush-cleaning hiking trip to help keep national and state park trails in good condition
• Organize a community garden to beautify
  

Volunteer vacation opportunities:

Contact your local church, synagogue or medical aid organization about "mission opportunities." Your family can provide out-of=state or global support to families and communities. Activities include medical/clothing drop-offs, providing building assistance, etc.

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Age Appropriate Ideas for Families

Projects mentioned at the younger ages are also appropriate for older children and teens.

Ages 1-4:

• Play with other children
• Visit a nursing home with other family members
• Partner with an older family member to read books at the library or community center
• Help deliver meals prepared for the homebound or hungry

Ages 5-7:

• Sort bags of food at food bank
• Work in a community garden (i.e., till soil, plant bulbs, or maintain a family garden)
• Bake sweets and deliver them to a place where they will be enjoyed
• Enjoy a fundraising walk
• Make sandwiches for the homeless
• Harvest vegetables
• Give a puppet show to children in a shelter

Ages 8-10:

• Help set tables and serve food at a soup kitchen
• Share family volunteer experiences at community events or in newsletters
• Collect clothing or school supplies for those in need
• If you have a pet, volunteer to take it for a visit to an adult day care center
• Paint local schools or non-profit agencies
• Walk dogs at the animal shelter

Ages 11-12:

• Mentor young children through a family-to-family mentoring program
• Suggest and choose family volunteer activities with other family members
• Call other friends' families to become family volunteers
• Encourage family volunteering or civic opportunities in the classroom
• Join a gleaning project (e.g., pick fruits or vegetables at a local farm)

All can participate at some level:

• Hug seniors in rest homes
• Clean up beaches or parks - beautify neighborhoods
• Provide foster homes for pets
• Raise money to buy books for literacy programs
• Create cards for residents in nursing homes

For more information on family volunteering, see our Links page and start making volunteering the norm in your family and community today!

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