*** How to Volunteer with your Family

If you would like to find an enjoyable and fulfilling way to spend time with your family, consider family volunteering. Imagine you and your family planting trees at the local Arbor Day event. Or maybe you’d enjoy helping out at the local furniture or food bank to help other families regain their dignity after a tragic fire or natural disaster. Contributing together offers a unique and meaningful way to spend time while also helping your community.

This article answers the questions:

Why should I spend time volunteering with my family?
How do I locate volunteer opportunities for my family?
Which organizations offer family volunteering?
How do I volunteer abroad with my family?

Why family volunteering?

The benefits of family volunteering are many. The rewards are invaluable. One story that brings this good advice home is from a man named Fran Heitzman who is the award-winning founder of Bridging, Inc., a furniture bank initiative in Minneapolis. Fran, at the seasoned age of 82, is still leading one of the largest furniture donation efforts in the country. Despite his age, the father of seven sons is still having an influence on the younger generation and families at Bridging.

The teen gained a new perspective on what he’d been given in life and built a closer relationship with his father. While this is a dramatic example of what can happen with a family volunteer experience, it isn’t all that unusual. Family dynamics almost always improve when parents and kids spend time giving together.

22 of the best reasons to volunteer with your family

1. Families can participate together in special events (e.g., walk-a-thons) without having to leave the kids behind.
2. They gain a shared sense of accomplishment and satisfaction from giving back to the community.
3. They can discuss service and community issues and get to know one another better.
4. Volunteering creates positive role models for children and teens.
5. Volunteering can help families learn about their own community and social issues.
6. Volunteering promotes civic responsibility and enhances a family's sense of community.
7. Volunteering builds the self-confidence of family members.
8. Volunteering improves communication and support skills in the family and in the community.
9. Volunteering creates a history of family memories.
10. Volunteers meet people of diverse cultural and economic backgrounds.
11. Volunteers have an opportunity to use and share their time and talents.
12. Volunteering experiences carry over into other parts of the volunteers' lives.
13. Giving to others places a volunteer's own problems in perspective.
14. Volunteering forges special bonds between family members.
15. Volunteering helps children and teenagers to relate to other generations.
16. Volunteering gives families an opportunity to create new memories.
17. Volunteering makes families feel valued.
18. Volunteers network and make new social contacts.
19. Volunteer work shows families new ways to solve their own conflicts.
20. Volunteering gives families a sense of purpose or belonging.
21. Volunteering develops family pride.
22. Volunteering can relieve isolation (for newcomers, new parents, troubled teens, etc.).

Identifying volunteer opportunities for your family

Before you start your search, brainstorm with your family about how they would like to help. Would they like to work indoors or outdoors? Would they like to do hands-on work? Would they like to work close to home or perhaps volunteer in another country? Which issues interest them —homelessness, the environment, etc? Try to make sure that everyone in the family who is going to volunteer participates in the discussion. It may require compromise. Keep in mind that activities like office work are not good volunteer activities for a family. Look for options that engage everyone—helping to build a house with Habitat for Humanity, for example—where all can be involved.

There are several ways to go about finding a volunteer opportunity for your family:

• Read your local newspaper for volunteer needs in your community.
• Check with your church for upcoming scheduled volunteer outreach opportunities.
• Contact your local volunteer center.
• Search the Idealist nonprofit organization directory - www.idealist.org .
• Look up local opportunities on the web at GoVolunteer ( www.govolunteer.com ), 1-800-Volunteer.org, or VolunteerMatch.com.

These sites offer advice about engaging families in volunteering and offer good project ideas.

• Doing Good Together – www.doinggoodtogether.org
• Family Cares - www.familycares.org
• The Volunteer Family – www.thevolunteerfamily.org