‘Tis the Season to Volunteer: Resources for the Whole Family

• Sign up for a bell ringing shift. This is something the entire family can do.
• If you can’t commit to a shift, then simply donate. Kids love putting money into the bucket when you’re walking into a store. Another idea is to have your child take money out of their own piggy banks to donate.
• Other volunteer opportunities for older kids and adults

• Operation Shoebox
• Candy Donation
• Write letters
• Operation Care Packages Kids (kid-specific ideas)

• Random acts of kindness
• Kindness cards
• Adopt a family in need and shop together as a family
• Bake cookies for a local nursing home and gather a group of kids to sing Christmas carols for the seniors
• Write thank you letters to local fire fighters, police, EMTs, and mail carriers

Meals on Wheels

Animal Humane Society (Make fleece toys for the animals and donate items)

Safe Families
Safe Families for children gives your family an opportunity to serve the community right in your own home. Safe Families is a network of host families who have been screened and trained to host kids whose parents are in crisis. Through this award-winning program, parents struggling with addiction, homelessness, joblessness, and heath crises can have peace of mind that their children are protected and nurtured while they get clean, sober, working and back on their feet. The mission of the organization is to support and preserve biological families so that they can better care for their children. The ultimate goal is to prevent abuse and neglect that can occur in the setting of crisis, strengthen families, and reduce the number of children entering the foster care system.

Donate to local food shelf 

Donate to Children’s MN Holiday Wish List

Donate new or used toys

Joseph’s Coat

Women’s Advocates

• Target gift cards
• Immediate need: new underwear for children and women, bed linens, new towels, bras, new socks for newborns and children, panty liners, pads, baby monitors
• Wish List items