With 4 kids, plus fostering another one, many ways I would love to give aren’t for this exact time in my life. I look for ways that can involve my children so that they can learn to love giving back as well, because what we teach them while they’re at home is paramount to who they become as adults.
Here are 5 ways to get your kids involved in giving back!
1.) Put any loose change in a jar to save up and donate to particular cause.
Children love visual reminders! Keeping a jar in sight and reminding them often about your goal can be very rewarding for them.I don’t recommend that this is your family’s only source of giving, but it gives a tangible way for your kids to see their efforts coming together to bless others.
2.) Support a child in another country through a trusted organization.
Have your children write to those kids! The money is important but so are the letters. I got to visit one of the kids we support in Ecuador 3 years ago and it was one of the best days of my life. Seriously.we had an instant bond and I just love that little girl.
My team visited other children in their homes and those kids LOVE their letters and drawings that their sponsors sent. Your kids can create a friendship with a little one across the world. we chose kids similar to our own kids ages so they each have their “own” kid that they pray for and write to.
3.) Visit nursing homes
Sadly, I haven’t done this as much as I’d like but it’s on our agenda for the summer. My mom is SO good at this and takes my kids when they are visiting her. when we all went as a (huge) family to sing to them at Christmas, it was so sweet watching my kids recognize and talk to some of the precious ones that they had visited with my mom.
4.) write cards to kids in the hospital
Check with your local hospital to see if they have a program for this, and if not, you can send do this for the large hospitals that do. Our son was a patient at Texas Children’s Hospital when he was a baby and even though he was too young to understand, those cards meant the world to us. The older kids love receiving them and it brightens up the hospital room.
5.) Choose to purchase from companies that give back.
Enter Direct Energy. Direct Energy recently partnered with MPOWERD to bring their solar Luci light to the developing world.
Developing communities all around the world use kerosene for light, which is dangerous and toxic. In some communities, they simply have no light to run businesses, keep health clinics open, or be spend time at home after dark with their families.
If you sign up for Direct Energy’s Give Brighter 12 plan (a competitively priced 12-month-fixed-rate electricity plan), MPOWERD will send one Luci light to a developing part of the world, and one to the customers’ home. You can see more here on this short video.
Our church sends a team to Africa about once a year to care for a community there. Although they are getting electricity in community buildings like schools and churches, most homes still do not have it. I am going to send our Luci light with the team that is going in August. (The picture below is a photograph of the tribe’s church.)
I want my kids to know that their purchasing power will be vast as adults, and to make those purchasing choices wisely. I want giving back to be part of our family’s culture. How does your family give back?
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Direct Energy. The opinions and text are all mine.
About Kelli Hays
