Doing good: Family Volunteerism by Christina Means

75 men, women, and children gathered on a cloudy Saturday morning last month to create small care packages, write messages, and sort baby carriers to send to refugees in Europe. Many people were catching up with friends and neighbors, others were meeting for the first time. This event truly captured the essence of what Community Impact Lab's Social Good projects aim to do: create opportunities for whole families to come together to take action and create change. We believe that it is never too soon to teach children about the importance of doing things for others. Community Impact Lab focuses on creating volunteer opportunities for families to do good together; children of all ages are encouraged to attend, many events are held on Saturday mornings when everyone can be present, and the projects are shaped by the causes our members care about.

There have been numerous studies showing the benefits of volunteering as a child. The obvious benefit is that it improves the community. When children are involved in acts of volunteerism they learn to respect the space and people around them and in turn they become valued members of the community. It promotes a healthy lifestyle and choices as they are less likely to engage in at-risk behavior. It enhances development as children generally learn best through experiences. These opportunities promote  psychological, social and intellectual development.  It teaches new life skills from the importance of being on time and seeing a project through to how to cook or use particular tools. It also promotes the lifelong service ethic that will be passed down to the next generation.

Becoming a mother (twice now) has inspired me to not just believe that each person has the opportunity to be the change we want in the world. I want to show, not tell, my boys that every day we have the chance to make a decision about how we invest our time and energy. That every time we chose to do something good that it matters. I’ll continue to pick up the wrapper left on the beach, smile at people that are different than me, spend a Saturday morning with my neighbors to make sure people across the globe who I will never meet face to face know they are loved and valued. I’ll continue to invest my time and energy so that we all have the opportunities to give as a family.

If you would like to read a more in-depth study of the benefits of volunteering serviceleaders.org is a great resource. To see where the carriers and cards are going and to learn more about Carry the Future please check out their site, http://www.carrythefuture.org/whoweare/.
To learn more about the next volunteering event, help organize a project, or share a cause close to your heart, please email info@communityimpactlab.org or reach out via facebook at www.facebook.com/communityimpactlab.