Family Volunteering

Family Volunteering is a fast growing opportunity which combines quality family time with meaningful community engagement. In these busy times it is all too easy for individual family members to lose touch with each other; work commitments, social life, school, all these activities can keep us apart. Family Volunteering offers a unique way to balance work/school and family, creating opportunities for families to volunteer together. Family Volunteering also engages youth and children who might otherwise be consider too young to volunteer.

There are many definitions of ‘family’ today. The modern family includes mothers and fathers, children, step parents and step children, aunts, uncles, grandparents and grand children, foster families, single parents and special family friends and mentors – what you call a family, we call a family. Everyone can participate.

Before deciding on a volunteer activity, the family should sit down together and do some planning around why the wish to volunteer and what type of activity would they like to engage in.  A search of the Volunteer Hamilton online database of volunteer opportunities can help but the ideal is for the family group to decide on what they will do and why they wish to do it. Once you have agreed on the project and organization that best suits your family, use the Volunteer Hamilton database to contact that agency and discuss a family volunteering program with the Volunteer Coordinator. Many organizations offer ‘group’ and family volunteering opportunities but keep in mind that some do not.

Benefits of Family Volunteering

• Increases and diversifies the volunteer base for the social service agency
• Creates stronger ties with your community
• Provides more awareness of community issues
• May create lifelong volunteers
• Families are strengthened, which ultimately leads to stronger communities
• Offers unique opportunities for involvement for youth and children
• Develops values for future generations

Some Family Volunteering Ideas

• Helping at a senior’s centre
• Caring for animals at a local shelter
• Computer instruction
• Arts and crafts
• Games, companionship
• Helping newcomers with conversational English
• Socializing
• Plant care
• Sew clothes,  knit mittens,  make a quilt for a shelter
• Help with a food drive
• Telephone shut-ins
• Bottle recycling, neighbourhood clean-ups

What should be included in an organization’s Family Volunteering Program?

• Planning
• Job designs
• Risk assessment’
• Selected recruitment strategies
• Proper intake, data recording
• Orientation and training
• Supervision and evaluation
• Recognition
• Administration

Things to Consider

• Age
• Risk and liability (check with your insurance agent)
• Screening
• Discipline
• Safety and rules
• Consent forms and waivers
• Inclusion of parent or guardian
• Time commitments/availability
• Transportation issues
• reliability