Jun 19, 2012

Project No More "I'm Bored!": Serve It Up


Today for Project No More "I'm Bored!" it is all about bringing a little service into the kiddos lives.



I have been wanting to do a much better job at providing opportunities for my Little Men to serve others. I have a whole slew of ideas. They just keep coming. I have even asked the boys for some ideas of what they would like to do to serve others. While driving from our latest service project, Oldest actually blurted out that we should find our local orphanage and we should give them all candy.

So sweet. I had to explain to him that there weren't any orphanages around here. We decided to keep brainstorming.

 For our latest service project we headed to the hospital.

Originally our plan was to package up a couple of dollars of change, attach a note, and then leave them in the nurses' break room. We thought it would be fun to leave one or two of them a surprise to get a treat.

The note said,

thanks for 
CHANGING
lives
have a treat
on us





We made our way into the hospital, including a little confusion in the automatic rotating doors. Yeah, traveling through those suckers with two rowdy olders, one punch-drunk 3 year old, and a Momma maneuvering a baby carrier was a sight to behold. There were several chuckles around us.


We stopped at the front desk. She was immediately enamored with my Little Men, but was at a loss as to how to help us follow through with our service project. She led us to the volunteer coordinator.

Ms. Volunteer Coordinator too was enamored with my Little Men. She thought they were so sweet to come and bring some change to the nurses. BUT, she also was at a loss as to what to do. She wasn't even sure where the break rooms were or if she could take us there. So she went to get another person.

That person, the community resource person, was super friendly too. She talked to the boys about what a great thing they were doing and she complimented them on their service project. She told them about all that a nurse or doctor could buy with the change.

She was so nice to them. I really appreciated all the effort these ladies went to for my boys. My boys didn't end up being able to put the change in a break room themselves, but thanks to these ladies they were able to realize what their little act of service would do for some hard-working nurses.

Over all it was a great trip.

I thought I would share with you how we made our thank you's, including the card that I made to go with the change.

First I printed of my card after putting it in Word. It measured about 3 1/2" wide. I got two cards per sheet. Then I cut them out and folded them in half.


I bought some teeny tiny cellophane snack bags in the wedding section of The Mart. I put $2.00 of change in each little baggie.


Then I folded over the top of the bag and sandwiched it between the card and stapled it in place.


Like I said, our plan was to leave them in a break room. You could also tape them to a vending machine. You could leave them for a baseball coach. The possibilities are endless.

Here is the card I made. You just need to save it as a picture onto your computer and then put it in Word (or similar program) to print off.


Load up your little do-gooders and bring some smiles to others.


I am realizing there are so many ways to serve.

Serving can be as simple as weeding for a neighbor in need of a little extra help.

Serving has got to be one of the best boredom busters because it teaches such a valuable lesson.

Even if one of the lessons is simply learning to serve with a good attitude.


Little might still be learning this...hahaha...

He will get it though.

Do you do service with your kiddos? What are some of your favorite ways to serve. I would LOVE ideas, because we are going to keep doing service projects all Summer.

4 comments:

Amanda said...

cute mama! We're doing "thankful Thursdays" with O, I'm totally stealing this!

My Recent Favorite Books said...

Your post made me smile! What a great way to teach your children on helping others! =)

Another idea I thought of - was to go to Nursing Homes and make a friend or two..I know there are always "older folks" that would love to see young children!

Stockhoff Family said...

What an awesome post!!! Great ideas all around. Love you

Keri said...

Glad to know im not alone in this feat. I too have incorporated service in my summer routine. weve been doing it now for 3 years and it has brought a lot of joy to us as a family. Funny you mention orphanages. My kids have been wanting to do the same kind of service. infact i have a phone call into our local facility and waiting to hear back. the boys want to make good luck charms for the kids. Im shocked to have discovered that they have no charity work in the community for young kids. you have to be 16 or older to help, so we as a family have to decided to take matters into our own hands. good luck in your chairty to others. what a good mom you are. i love checking in on your blog here and there you always got something creative up your sleeves. glad your enjoying your summer. this was a sweet post.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...