There are some great volunteer opportunities available within Orange County. There are many benefits to volunteering together as a family. Your children will develop compassion for others and the ability to understand the challenges that other people face in their lives. Volunteering with your children will encourage them to give back, and they will also continue to volunteer as adults.
A great place to volunteer with your children together as a family is to do a beach cleanup with Save Our Beach. Save Our Beach has a weekly beach cleanup along the coastline in Orange County. Save Our Beach will provide the gloves, bags as well as educate children on the impact that trash is having on our coastline. Spending time together as a family cleaning up the beach is also a great bonding opportunity as a family. Your children will feel much rewarded and feel a great sense of pride when they bring in their large bags of trash. You can find your closest beach cleanup by visiting saveourbeach.org.
Another great place to volunteer is Someone Cares Soup Kitchen located in Costa Mesa. Someone Cares Soup Kitchen serves over 300 people daily with a freshly cooked meal. They are always looking for volunteers to help cook, prepare food, serve and cleanup daily. The Soup Kitchen can only accept volunteers who are fifteen years or older, however younger children are welcome to bring donations of canned goods and clothes. Volunteers are required to have closed toed shoes, hair pulled back, no tank tops and a smile. You can register to volunteer your time by calling 949-548-8861 extension 201, or visit somecareskitchen.org.
If you have a busy work schedule you can also volunteer by donating clothes, canned food or household items to the Orange County Rescue mission. The Orange County Rescue Mission food bank at the mission is at critically low levels and can greatly benefit from your donations. There is a donation center conveniently located in Irvine. For more information call 714-247-4300 or visit rescuemission.org.
You can also volunteer daily within our community to help make it a better place to live. Some ideas to help volunteer around your community is to help an elderly with their groceries, host a neighborhood canned food drive, bring a cooked meal to someone who is ill or donate books to your local library. Volunteers are the glue that helps bring a community together.