It can be tricky to serve others when you feel like life is super busy with little kids. We do our best to make it a priority and are always glad we took the time, resources and efforts to fill a need. It's taken me some time to figure out ways to serve that are doable for my family as not all serving opportunities are conducive for little ones.
This is our current list of serving opportunities that work for our family:
1. Delivering meals to new moms
2. Delivering cookies, flowers and baked goods to sick/elderly neighbors
3. Donating kid clothes to needy families or foster families in our city
4. Collecting cans of food to fill the shelves of a local food pantry
5. Kids doing extra chores at home for mission trip fundraisers at church
6. Blessing Bags
7. Donating household items to local shelters or needy families
8. Praying for specific needs/people in our community
Several of these opportunities have come through our church. I've joined care teams and church Facebook groups that are quick to post about needs in our community. Usually I'll get a text or a message about a need and then anyone that can help take care of that need replies. It is not something we do every week - just as the need arises. Recently we got a text about a young mom needing everything to set up a house or a new mom on my side of town that could be blessed by a home cooked meal. It's been such a fun way for our family to serve.
Blessing Bags Details:
In January, I got together with a group of friends to make Blessing Bags. We each signed up to bring a couple items and then we assembled the bags all together. The big kids helped assemble bags while the little kids played. It went really quick and everyone went home with ten bags to share with our community.
We included all of the following items in a gallon ziploc bag:
socks, deodorant, hand warmers, beef jerky, granola bar, hand sanitizer wipes, pouch of apple sauce, peanut butter crackers, comb, chapstick, tooth paste, tooth brush and gum. Some packs included feminine hygiene products, too.
The idea was that we could hand them out if we saw someone in need. Some gave them out to homeless people around our city, some gave them to people asking for donations on the side of the road and others delivered their bags to shelters in our city.
Donations:
I logged onto Facebook one morning when the temps were in the negatives. A mom friend was quickly organizing a blanket, coat, warm clothing drive to fill a need at a local shelter. Several moms took action, got busy collecting and got everything ready for pick up.
My kids noticed I was busy gathering items and asked what I was doing. I used it as an opportunity to share with them that there were people who were really struggling in the extreme cold and they needed our help. I showed the kids the items I'd collected. They understood that we were filling a need with the extra things around our house.
Without even asking the kids to contribute, Olive went off and found this pair of purple mittens. She said they had gotten to small for her and she was happy to pass them on to another kid. Then she reminded me that I had a lot of scarves and I could probably donate a few of them (#convicting). So I found several scarves to part with and we filled our donation bags. It was such a fun thing to do for others when we stuck at home in the cold. I'm thankful for friends who come up with these ideas and just happy to be able to participate in a small way.
Do you have any ways that work for your family to serve at this stage of your life? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.
In case you missed it on Polka-Dotty Place this week:
Monday: Healthy Egg Muffins
Tuesday: Walmart Wardrobe
Wednesday: School Lunch Ideas & Yumbox Love
It's time to link up with my favorite blogging buddies for High Five for Friday. Join us with up to 3 different blog posts and be sure to look around to find some new blog friends.
Becky @ By BMG Blog
Della @ Della Devoted
Tif @ Bright on a Budget
Whitney P @ Come Home for Comfort
I love this! We try to invite families to our home for those holidays that they might not be able to travel and see their own families, like Thanksgiving and Easter. I love that you get your kids involved!
ReplyDeleteWe found a ministry that serves breakfast to the homeless in our area. We choose an item to bring and then the big kiddos can help hand out what we brought while the littles play on the playground with new friends. We have also done breakfast bags for our area Meals on Wheels. They give us a list of what they want inside them, the kiddos decorate the bags and then fill them up. Thanks for sharing about the bags, that's a great idea for us to do next!
ReplyDeleteLove this Whitney!
ReplyDeleteThat's such a great idea to do blessing bags and to involve your kids in collecting warm items. I should do this with my niece. She has so much empathy for people who are sick or sad or need help in some way and I know she would love to help.
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet way to give back!
ReplyDeleteI love that your family helps others, and includes your kids! It instills respect, gratefulness, and kindness in them. Our Life Group did something similar to the Blessing Bags just a couple weeks ago but we put the items in black backpacks.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love that you do this!! I'm sure these bags are such a huge blessing to all who receive them! I love slipping a gospel tract inside things like this to meet the recipients' eternal needs along with the much needed temporal ones. My favorites are from LivingWaters.com. They have such an excellent selection of biblically sound resources there! Thank you so much for sharing this inspiring post! It warms my heart hearing how you included your precious kiddos too! The story of Olive giving those mittens she'd outgrown was incredibly sweet! You're doing a terrific job raising compassionate kids! I love it!! <3
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