Service idea for 9 year old girls ????

[sancho]

Hi All,

As we SAHMs know, it's a long, long summer. We are now 3 weeks in and everything is going fine but with all this extra time, I was thinking it might be good to have my 9 year old girls do some volunteering. We are not members of a church, but I did see some fliers at a nearby church for a summer lunch program (where you put together lunches for kids who get the free lunch at school during the year). There is also a Foster Care venue where foster parents come in to shop for clothes. On Tuesdays, volunteers come in to sort and set up new donations. I think both of those things would be great for the 3 of us to do. But I wanted to see if anyone else had other ideas or experiences that might be good for us to consider. My kids love animals. A volunteer opportunity with animals would probably really excite them but I'm thinking they may be too young????? Animals can be as unpredictable as a 9 year old girl. Any ideas?

TIA,

Lauren

 

[Beavs]

Elderly people trapped in nursing homes bored to tears love to see young people. I bet your girls would be welcomed to help out with activities (i.e. crafts). I used to work in a nursing home and enjoyed seeing the residents smile at the sight of young visitor.

 

[andtckrtoo]

Elderly people trapped in nursing homes bored to tears love to see young people. I bet your girls would be welcomed to help out with activities (i.e. crafts). I used to work in a nursing home and enjoyed seeing the residents smile at the sight of young visitor.

+1 And not only nursing homes, but homes with patients with Alzheimer's and other special care facilities for the elderly - including Veteran's Hospitals and homes - don't forget our service people. My neighbor's husband had dementia (he passed away a few months ago) and she was shocked at how many people dump their parents there and walk away, never to return. One poor man was dropped off with only 3 changes of clothes and one pair of shoes - dress shoes at that. She ended up giving him some of her husband's clothes. And the really sad thing is that this is an extremely expensive facility. It's not even your average one. The out of pocket expense is high for families.

Another idea would be contact your local animal rescues - many of the cat rescues (if you are not allergic) hire people to come in and play with the kitties on display at the local PetsMarts and PetCo's. My daughter and I did this one year. If you have local dog rescue - I'm sure they could use the same thing.

 

[kgalas]

That's a great idea! What about Meals on Wheels? You can do the driving and they can do the delivery of meals to shut-ins and the elderly? I've thought about doing that with my 3 dds

 

[sancho]

All of these are great ideas. THANKS!

 

[Melclear]

animal shelters

Our local shelter relies on volunteer children (some as young as 7) to come in and play with the puppies and kittens, and give the older animals some love and attention. If your children love animals, you might look into that. Another option, if you are in a rural area, is the local stables often have children come take care of the horses.