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Volunteer Opportunities for All Ages in Richmond, Virginia

POSTED BY
Dina Weinstein

It can be challenging to find ways to involve a young child in helping the community.

If you are looking to involve your young child in volunteering, here are some family-friendly volunteer opportunities to get you started.

Cards for Hospitalized Kids

Gather colored pencils, markers, and crayons and decorate cards for children in hospitals
around the United States. Even the littlest helpers can be involved by putting stickers on!

The organization asks for no glitter or materials that could come off the cards. Find out more:
http://www.cardsforhospitalizedkids.com/ .

Little Free Library

Little libraries are all over, but many people are not familiar with how they began.

The book, Little Libraries, Big Heroes by Miranda Paul tells the story of an ordinary person who had an
extraordinary dream to help others; thus developing the Little Free Library. After reading the
book, ask your child to choose a few books to put in the Little Free Library nearest your home.

A map, searchable by zip code can be found at: https://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/. If the Little
Free Library is close enough, check back and see if the books are gone. If they are,
congratulate your child! “What an amazing thing you did! Now another friend is getting to read
that book!”.

Chesterfield Food Bank

My daughter loves volunteering her time with the CFB. Typically, she gets to distribute bread to
other volunteers, who are filling carts that will go out to the cars.

A Friday night distribution often lasts 2 or more hours, so this is for children five and older. Alternatively, there are distributions Saturdays during the day. I suggest working with your child’s sports team or club to coordinate a group service event.

Bryan Park Clean-up

The Friends of Bryan Park supply trash pickers, bags, and gloves to make service easy. This
park is beautiful; allowing you to take in the scenery while working.

Clean-up supplies are located by the shed near the playground.

Ronald McDonald House

While in-person volunteering is not an option at this time, there are other ways to help the
Ronald McDonald House. Recently, my daughter and I made no-sew fleece blankets for families who
will be staying there while their children receive medical treatment.

For a seven year old, this project was time consuming, so we broke it into several weeks. We were able to make four
blankets to donate.

There are many ways, big and small, to get children involved in serving the Richmond community.

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More things to do in and around Richmond:

About Dina Weinstein

Dina Weinstein is a Richmond, Virginia based award-winning journalist who reports for numerous local and national outlets. Weinstein moved north from Miami, Florida where she worked mentoring young journalists as an advisor at the Miami Dade College student newspaper The Reporter. She is a Boston native and a proud graduate of Boston University School for the Arts and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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