Community Service Opportunities in Cincinnati Families

It’s never too early to teach  your children to be empathetic, kind and giving.  One way to instill all of these values is to encourage your children to give back or help out in their very own community.  The question that often arises is HOW can my child help in the community?  Many children have community service hours required for school, and many want to make a difference in their world.  But finding volunteer or community service opportunities isn’t as easy to do for children as it is for adults.  We’ve asked a few local organizations how children and families can volunteer or help the guests that they serve, and we’ve created a list of ideas for community service projects that can be fulfilled by anyone…young or old! 

Local Agencies looking for Volunteers or Donations ::

Brighton Center    PO Box 325 Newport KY 41072    www.brightoncenter.org    Volunteers can be 13 & Older    Volunteers are needed to help to sort donations of food and clothing.  Volunteers may coordinate activities for the pre-school children at our Bright Days Child Development Center.  Volunteers can organize a bingo game or ice cream social at one of our senior living facilties.  For more information contact:  [email protected]

Freestore Foodbank     Administrative Offices & Cincinnati COOKS! – 1141 Central Parkway; Customer Connection Center – 112 East Liberty Street; Mayerson Distribution Center – 1250 Tennessee Avenue    www.freestorefoodbank.org    13+    “**children must be with a group of 10 or more.
Children volunteers can help prepare Power Packs for the weekend feeding program. Volunteer opportunities are available at the Freestore Foodbank’s Mayerson Distribution Center from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. or 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Each Friday during the school year, the Freestore Foodbank sends bags of food, known as Power Packs, home with students to ensure they have something to eat on weekends. Each Power Pack contains nearly a dozen food items, which are shelf-stable and kid-friendly. A few examples of what you might find in a Power Pack include canned fruit, 2% milk, cereal, red beans & rice and applesauce.

Nearly 4,000 children in more than 90 participating schools receive Power Packs from the Freestore Foodbank each week. The children are primarily between the ages of six and 12 and live in Hamilton, Clermont, Clinton, Pike and Scioto Counties in Ohio and Campbell, Kenton Boone and Grant Counties in Northern Kentucky.    For more information contact: Amy Knoche 513.482.4520

Matthew 25: Ministries    11060 Kenwood Road    www.m25m.org    4+    Children as young as four or five and seniors as old as 95 can all do meaningful work at Matthew 25: Ministries.  Children and youth seeking to acquire service hours or build their resumes can either volunteer in groups through school or school organizations or as individuals (if 16 or older) or with family members.
Volunteers perform a variety of activities in the Processing Center, mostly of a non-stressful physical nature.  Activities may include:
•    Evaluating, categorizing and processing new or gently used clothing
•    Sorting, matching and sizing shoes
•    Assembling personal care and first aid kits
•    Sorting plastics for recycling
•    Distressing or removing labels from clothing
•    Removing products from retail packaging

Matthew 25 is open 9 – 4 Monday – Friday and 9 – 3 Saturday for volunteers.   For more information contact:  [email protected]

Parish Kitchen    143 Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011    www.parishkitchen.org    Looking for volunteers that are

grade school to high school ages.    We serve a dessert with every meal, so baking of homemade desserts is helpful.   Also, students can initiate and coordinate various collections at their schools, e.g. gallons of milk, Kroger gift cards, sweat socks, sleeping bags, or blankets.   For more information contact: Daniel E. Nolan #859-581-7745   ***Editor’s note:  This is my family’s personal favorite place to help with community service projects.  Since my children are so young in age making baked goods is a perfect way for us to help.  Even my youngest, who is 3.5 can help with baking projects.  While we work we talk about why it is important to help others out.

Welcome House of Northern Kentucky    205 West Pike Street, Covington, KY 41011    www.welcomehouseky.org    Any ages    At Welcome House, we love to see children getting involved with community service.  We have children supporting our clients in many different ways, many times focusing on our emergency shelter.  The shelter usually houses around 30 women and children.  We love when the community donates snack bags using healthy foods like granola bars, fresh fruit (apples, oranges, bananas), popcorn, etc.  Making meals together and donating the meals to the shelter clients is a great way to work together at home while supporting the shelter.  Sometimes groups like to get together and host a party for the clients in shelter.  They usually look at the time of year and choose a theme based on holidays, etc.  The group can do crafts with the children, provide snacks, play games, whatever works for them.  We are always open to new ideas and appreciate any support we receive from the community.    For more information contact: Jennifer Amos at 859-431-8717

Here are some more ideas for children & families to help out in their community ::

• Visit your local nursing home with treats for the residents or make greeting or holiday cards to pass out to people
• you meet at the nursing home.
• Have a yard sale or bake sale and donate the money you make to your favorite charity.
• Call your local library and see if they have any volunteer tasks that a child or family could work on.
• Help out an elderly person in your neighborhood by working in their yard or doing housework.
• Pick up litter in your neighborhood or at a neighborhood park.
• Call your local animal shelter to see if they need any volunteers at the shelter or need items collected & donated
• Send a care package to service men and women.
• Contact the Ronald McDonald House or Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to see if you can lend a hand to help families or children.

Did we miss anything?  Is there something your family does for the community that you’d like to share?  Leave us comments, we’d love to hear from you!