We can all give in little ways that make a huge difference. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want their children to be kind and generous people who grow up with a desire to make contributions. There is no question that the best way to teach kids is through role modeling. At Mabel’s Labels we wanted our work lives to reflect that value, so over a year ago we started a Community Relations Committee. We recently had a look at what we have accomplished and it left us with a decent case of the warm fuzzies.
The round up:
- Partnered with a camp for children who are burn victims;
- In celebration of International Women’s Day, donations were made to the young mothers at St. Martin’s Manor;
- Staff volunteered at an Eco-Festival to celebrate Earth Day;
- Gift wrapping – staff volunteered in the holiday season to raise money for local hospital;
- Food bank food drive – Mabel’s Labels had an interdepartmental competition;
- Product donation to group home for developmentally disabled adolescents;
- Portion of holiday product sales used to sponsor families through the holiday season;
- Countless gift certificates donated to charity organizations to use as door prize and silent auction items.
I’m pretty excited to be working with a bunch of folks who think this stuff is important – makes us feel even more like a team and has the added benefit of showing our children that involvement in the community matters.
So I’m happy with how that lesson is being taught through what I do at work, but I got to thinking about what we are doing at home and also feel pretty OK about our efforts:
- Each week the big kiddos donate a portion of their allowance towards a charity or cause;
- Our family sponsors a child in another country. The kiddos have learned to sacrifice some of their ‘wants’ so that we are able to support our sponsored child’s needs;
- The kiddos participate in community projects. Just recently we did a clean up day with daddy-o’s company and all kids, big and small, contributed. OK, so maybe the baby just sat in the stroller and “supervised”.
What do you do, either at work or home, that helps to spread the love? Let us know because we’re always looking for fun and fresh ideas on how we can help in little ways around here.
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we’re big into bake sales and the volunteer gift wrapping where donations go to a good cause. also, i love the world vision gifts where you can give someone ‘a cow and a chicken’ etc for their christmas gift
i’m so over buying candles and pot pourri for people just because i’m ‘supposed’ to be buying them a gift. i love those kinds of donations for the ‘person who has everything’
good ideas Carrie! I’m with you on not over-loading people with stuff…donations can be much more meaningful. More and more, kids birthday parties are going that way too (see echoage.com)
Every time my kids get a birthday present or a present for the holidays…they have to find a gently used toy or book in the house that we give to a family in need or a shelter. This way..they still get to have the joy of receiveing gifts, opening presensts and the excitement that goes along with it and the equivalent joy of giving to someone who is not as lucky as they have been. SHSH…we also give some of the new toys away…because really….how much do they need!
Teaching our kids to be community minded is so important and its awesome you have such great examples from work to use and include them in! At this time of year, its easy to lose the reason for the season. One very tangilbe way we include our children is to go on a special shopping trip for food supplies for the needy. It can be hard to find opportunities for family member of all ages to volunteer. But most local grocery stores have food drives and you can get a list of needed items and shop only for those items, allowing the kids to purchase with their own charitable savings and know that is was their contribution that made that happen. Thank you for sharing this post!
How’s this for a teaching tool – thx Lisa Borden for forwarding:
http://www.projectgiveback.com/index.php
Not only do we preach charity and volunteering with our two children, we teach them how to be financing responsible – it helps them with the bigger picture, and why perhaps it helps to give! We use a program called KidsWealth, works great, and I don’t have to worry about taking my kids into the grocey store anymore
Wow, I didn’t know Mabel did all those great things for the community.
Our lives can get so busy sometimes that it is hard to think of others on top of our own problems. I think of others when I recycle everything I can and always participate in food drives. (They usually come around when it is time to clean out my cupboards, anyway!)
It’s been such a great year for Mabel and community relations. I agree with Samantha, it’s easy to get busy with our lives and lose focus on the important things. What I like about the community relations committee at our office is, it’s about working with other people throughout the year, and not just when it’s seasonally “the thing to do”. All in all, a valiant effort from the team.
awesome suggestions! thanks so much for your feedback!