Seeking SF Volumteer Opportunities to Do with Family

So What Happened?

Thank you everyone for your responses. His only interests right now seem to be anything that is on a screen; video games, tv, or computers. he also lives such a wonderful life and has no idea that there are other people out there whose lives are harder. even kids his own age that struggle everyday.

i want him to be aware of that and also learn some appreciation and compassion.

Here are some of the suggestions i received:

If you're interested in outdoor manual labor, the San Francisco Recreation & Park Department's Natural Areas program can always use volunteers for weeding, trail maintenance, and other habitat restoration tasks. They have work sites all over the city that they go to on a rotating schedule. Call Suzanna Buehl at ###-###-####. Kids as young as 10 can volunteer at many sites if accompanied by a parent; without a parent, I think they have to be 16.

Happy sweating!
Susan

Call your city office. My niece who is 12 down in So Cal is volunteering with the city. Just classes-like art, volleyball, working with younger kids. Give them a call-especially if there is a sport or something he loves doing. My niece loves it.

Sign up SF Connect. They have lots of events to pick from. My son & I are members.

http://www.sfconnect.org/

Great idea! I used to work at the SF Volunteer Center and we would put out a summer issue of family volunteer activities. Here's a link to one-time volunteer events happening over the summer months: http://www.volunteersolutions.org/thevolunteercenter/volu....

Park clean-ups are always fun and rewarding.

Best,
Naomi

like SCRAP (scroungers center for reusable art parts). http://www.scrap-sf.org/

It is a really cool organization that focuses on creative reuse of materials. Good luck! Thanks for teaching your child to give back to the community. What A great idea!

D.,

Hands On Bay Area has some great opportunities AND you can pick from different kinds of events so you and your son could try a couple of things if you wanted.

I know that you guys would have to attend an orientation, but it's well worth it.

Here is the info: http://www.handsonbayarea.org/HomePage/index.php/home.html

Enjoy!
Dana

D.,

Sandy has some great responses.

Also, a lady at our church volunteers at the homeless shelter once a month every month to cook and serve. She's been doing this with her son since he was little - he's 16 now. She does it through City Team Missions.

Also, Great Schools had a wonderful article on taking the family on a "volunteer vacation". This is one of my next missions! Check it out: http://www.greatschools.net/cgi-bin/showarticle/1173

Enjoy!

check out VolunteerMatch.org

You can sign up to get a monthly e-mail of whats going on each month or you can check the website under search for specific areas of volunteer interest!

Hi D.,

What a great idea! What are your son's interests or what would you like to do together? Examples could be gardening, environmental causes, helping senior citizens, visiting kids in hospitals, or helping tutor summer school children. In college, I volunteered at the San Francisco Food Bank (Potrero Hill) prepping food and boxes for families in need. I think convalescent homes could always use people to read, play chess, etc. with the residents. I have some more info and ideas if you want. I'm a teacher and you could also contact SF School Volunteers to help kids in summer school who need skill reinforcement. Good luck and have fun.