Delivering Smiles

Meals on Wheels has been a wonderful hands-on volunteer experience for our family.  Our boys are 3, 5 and 7 so it’s very age-appropriate as well.  Not only do they enjoy delivering the meals but since we deliver in our own neighborhood (most homes are less than a mile from our house) they’ve come to understand that we have
neighbors in need.  We drive by a couple homes en route to our 3 year old’s preschool and he’s always quick to point out “there’s Ailene’s house!”   I’ve also explained to the boys that they may be the only kids that these older people get to see so I think that also makes the experience more special for them–and helps them understand the reason for the big smiles on the recipients’ faces when we arrive with their meal.  Another perk for them is the bowl of suckers at the Meals on Wheels site and the warm greeting they always receive from the staff there. 

Feed My Starving Children

Our family has been struggling to find opportunities for volunteering together and are grateful to have discovered Doing Good Together. We have volunteered as a family at school, helping out with the food drive and at our church, King of Kings Lutheran in Woodbury, MN. They just held the annual Feed My Starving Children event on site. It was unique opportunity for all of us to contribute together, including our 3 year old twins. Everyone had an amazing experience and we look forward to doing more. 

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I am a person who dreams of winning the lottery and handing out bags of cash to all my favorite charities. I want to host a fundraiser that raises millions of dollars for those in need. I get overwhelmed because I can’t do this so I do nothing. Until Doing Good Together. The ideas for simple, meaningful, impactful projects have motivated me to do more. We compiled a “12 months of giving” list and posted to our fridge. Each month we commit to doing a project (each found on the DGT website). We are only in February and my 5-yr-old is already asking when we are going to do our second project and she knows what that will be. She’s excited, she’s engaged and she’s learning. We’ve already had great discussions about what our helping can do, what it means to those receiving and all that we gain from doing it. We aren’t doing the grandest gesture, making the unbelieveable gift, but we are changing the world.