BElieve THEre is GOOD in the World!

Salvation Army - Canned Food Drive - Just the Beans and Corn!

I actually wrote this article to publish over at www.thegoodstuffguide.com in a few weeks -but also wanted to put it here, because it's something I want to remember on this amazing journey of my life!

So here's the deal.  I wanted to volunteer with my girls. Instill in them compassion for others.  Spend time with them. Give of ourselves, because we've been given so much.  But the reality is, our volunteering was sporadic at best. Until, I started this last July...

I called it ImpACT Chics. (Our church as an ImpACT initiative to reach out into our community each month, thus my inspiration)

To get started, I simply invited several of my daughters friends and their moms, to join the group. (Our church also has a database of groups, so we've been able to make some new friends through that too!)

Here's how it works. 

• I find one project a month that a group of moms and daughters (approx ages 7-12) can do together. 
• I then let the moms know what the month project is (either via group I set up on facebook, or via email for those not connected to facebook), so they can let me know if they are coming or not!
• Then we show up one time a month and volunteer together - usually on a Saturday morning, but not always, depending on the event.

So far we have done things like...

• make blankets for Project Linus
• Help at Convoy of Hope's weekly Hands of Hope volunteer opportunity (sorted food)
• Decorated cookies and took them to police/fire (in honor of 9.11)
• Painted some rooms at local organization called Community Partnership, which has a variety of programs in our community that seek to strengthen communities, families, individuals
• Helped be a part of Friends Against Hunger's event to pack 1 million meals in 1 weekend (some meals even went to Hurricane Sandy victims)
• Sorted canned food for Salvation Army's huge canned food drive for the holidays
• Helped pack up bags of food for Tiger Totes program which sends home meals for the weekend to 150 kids our school system
• and next month, we are making a craft at my home then taking them all over the local nursing and giving them to residents there for valentine's day

Why I love this?

• It keeps me volunteering on a regular basis
• I love spending time with my girls. And I feel like I'm instilling in them the value of compassion.
• I love spending time with their friends and other moms who share same values that we do
• When we all come together, it really feels like we make an impact in those couple of hours we are together
• We are supporting great organizations who are already doing some amazing things in our community
• It's just fun! Especially shared with others!

Hope this inspires you to volunteer in your community, as well! Here's my newest favorite saying: BElieve THEre is GOOD in the World!

Helping Friends Against Hugner Pack 1 Million Meals in a Weekend