"Volunteering is how my husband and I met. We were both part of a volunteer club in college," says mom. "Because of this, giving back is one of our family values. It is fun to now be able to impart the idea of volunteering onto our kids in this hands-on way."

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The Murray Family has participated in a variety of give-back projects, from bundling diapers for families in need and painting kindness rocks to packing homeless blessing bags. "The homeless blessing bags project has had a great impact on our kids. Not only has it kept the conversation of homelessness going; it has filled the kids with a desire to help and hand out even more bags."  

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When you volunteer together, it naturally lends itself to different conversations. "When we created appreciation cards for veterans in hospice, we had discussions about who are veterans and what is hospice. I'm not sure we would have had such a conversation otherwise," says mom. 

 

For the Murrays, giving back helps to reinforce gratitude and enables a space for coming up with ideas on how to further help. "It's a rewarding way to spend a short part of the weekend with your family, helping other people." 

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"Volunteering with my kids has helped us better see a need in the community and identify an action we can take to help."