Volunteer on Christmas

[Shsmith341]

I'm looking for a way that my family can volunteer on Christmas. We aren't going to schedule a park day on that day. I looked into Give Kids the World but my 6 & 7 year olds are too young according to their age requirements for volunteering when I read the descriptions. I could be missing something. We want the whole family to be able to give back. Is there another way that we can volunteer as a family? Where we live we always help out with fulfilling children's wish lists . Is there something like this and my children could buy and deliver presents to other children? Any ideas would be great.

 

[DisneyAuntie12]

I'm not sure about Christmas, but I've noticed that Orlando seems to have an unusually high number of 'one time volunteer opportunity' events, probably because there are a lot of families visiting the area and others have similar thoughts. If you Google 'volunteer Orland FL' you'll find a few volunteer match sites but the best for one time opportunities looks like www.handsonorlando.com.

Unfortunately their events aren't listed very far out, but you could search a current event and contact the site to see if it's something they'll do monthly. I think it might be difficult to get something that you can do once as an out-of-town visitor that falls exactly on Christmas (a lot of sites will likely be closed that day, I think even Secret Santa programs and such give out presents just before Christmas, usually not the day of - meal service or delivery might be your best bet if you really want it to be Christmas day,) but I would think there'd be a lot of events in the week leading up to Christmas. Something like this, for example, looks perfect for a family with kids, and might be a monthly event: Birthday Party For Homeless Children.

Edit: Apologies, just realized that event also has an age limit of 10. You could always call the site and see if they are flexible on this. Or, if that doesn't work, making something like refugee kits or cards for sick children at your hotel is something you could do as a family.

 

[Shsmith341]

Thank you so much. I don't know why I didn't even think to broaden the search to the Orlando area.

 

[NotUrsula]

One of the nicest things you can do is to take gifts to a nursing home. Calling way ahead is the way to do this, so that you can coordinate with the facility on who you might see and what items they would like. Older folks often really like interacting with kids, but not all facilities are OK with having them visit unrelated residents. (A lot of places are quite strict about immunizations for those who volunteer, even for a couple of hours.)

There are often many, many folks in nursing homes who have no family left, so they get no gifts on Christmas and feel very left out with no visitors. Things like large-print books, magazines and playing cards, magnifiers, bright flashlights with easy-to-work switches, fat pens that are easier to grip, toiletries of all kinds, colorful fleece throws -- all of those are good gifts for the elderly.

 

[Shsmith341]

One of the nicest things you can do is to take gifts to a nursing home. Calling way ahead is the way to do this, so that you can coordinate with the facility on who you might see and what items they would like. Older folks often really like interacting with kids, but not all facilities are OK with having them visit unrelated residents. (A lot of places are quite strict about immunizations for those who volunteer, even for a couple of hours.)

There are often many, many folks in nursing homes who have no family left, so they get no gifts on Christmas and feel very left out with no visitors. Things like large-print books, magazines and playing cards, magnifiers, bright flashlights with easy-to-work switches, fat pens that are easier to grip, toiletries of all kinds, colorful fleece throws -- all of those are good gifts for the elderly.

That is a wonderful idea! I'm so glad I reached out for help. I never would've thought of this. Thank you so much!