Newsletter

June is hunger awareness month, and the past few years have demonstrated how much we need community to help end this major crisis in our country. According to the USDA, 38 million people in America suffer from food insecurity, including 12 million children. This food insecurity occurs in every community in the country. The good news is that you can help! Many organizations welcome volunteers to help them assist the food insecure or other vulnerable populations.

Volunteering is not only good for your community, but it’s beneficial for your family too. Volunteering can help kids increase their social and relationship skills. Volunteering also helps to counteract the effect of stress, anger, and anxiety. Helping others has been proven to increase happiness, self-confidence, and a sense of purpose.

Now that you know why you should volunteer, how should you and your family get involved? Here are some age-appropriate ways to incorporate your children into volunteer scenarios.

Toddlers - One group that experiences widespread food insecurity is our nation’s senior population. Meals on Wheels and similar programs help alleviate this by delivering meals to homebound and invalid seniors. You and your young children can decorate lunch bags for meal-delivery nonprofits so that the seniors have their day brightened by your child’s artistic endeavors. This is a nice way to contribute at home and on your own timeline, for children that may not be ready for an in-person, structured activity.

School-age children - In 2020, over 60 million people turned to food banks and community programs for assistance in finding food for their families. Many of these food banks need help packing boxes of food to send out into the community. This may include sorting, weighing, and bagging food, or packing dry goods into boxes via an assembly line. You can even help with the delivery once the boxes are packed. As long as children are able to stand/move around for the time of the volunteer shift, there usually isn’t a lot of heavy lifting so this can be an excellent activity for families.

Middle Schoolers - Once children are ready for a little more responsibility, community gardens can be a great place to grow their neighborhood involvement. These gardens often have easy-to-grow fruit and vegetable crops. The organizations that run the community gardens typically welcome help with planting, weeding, regular care, and harvesting. This is a great way to teach slightly older children both about community participation and helpful gardening skills.

Teens - If your teen is ready to take on a leadership role, perhaps it is time to organize your own fundraiser. Local food banks are constantly in need of extra funding. You and your teen can be creative on how you want to raise the money, whether it’s a bake sale, a car wash, or something else!

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Below are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Use sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher.

2. Reapply sunscreen according to the instructions but usually no less than every 2 hours or more often if they have been swimming or sweating a lot.

3. Try to stay out of the sun between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. when the UV sunrays are the strongest.

4. If your child will be in the sun, you can also protect their skin with clothing with UV protection.

5. Teach children the habit of always using sunscreen if they will be out in the sun.

6. Teach them the importance of protecting their skin and the danger of repeated exposure to the sun’s harmful UV rays. Even when it’s cloudy outside, we still need to protect our skin. “While clouds do reduce some of the sun’s UV rays, they don’t block all of them. UVA rays can penetrate clouds, and they can also reach below the water’s surface.”*

*Skin Cancer Foundation

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