Supporting mothers and their children is at the heart of everything we do here at DFWChild. So here we take a closer look at four respected organizations to see how they’re supporting families and other vulnerable populations within our community—and how they’re encouraging the next generation of volunteers by inviting all ages to join the cause. If you’ve been looking for a way to introduce your kids to the concept of philanthropy, start here—where your littles can actively take part through hands-on, in-person volunteer opportunities that will broaden their worldview.
Searching for more things to do with kids in Dallas-Fort Worth? Find great ideas here and search our calendar for family fun things to do every day of the week.
Community Partners of Dallas
Dallas County children who’ve had an exceptionally rough go of it—suffering from abuse or neglect—should not also go without necessities. That’s the mission of this nonprofit that supports 20,000 such children every year.
To lend a hand in-person, sign up online. It doesn’t matter your age. Everyone is welcome, with advance request, for a tour of its East Dallas facility during office hours Monday through Friday 9am–5pm. A staff member will enlist your help for a few hours on whichever project they’re currently prepping, often sorting donations from four of its annual in-kind donations drives—coats for winter, toys for Christmas, Easter baskets, and backpacks for the start of the academic year.
Community Partners of Dallas also welcomes donations of clothes and blankets (check their Walmart registry online for their biggest needs) any time of year for stocking its Rainbow Room. That’s the emergency resource center that Child Protective Services caseworkers use to “shop” after a child has been removed from a traumatic situation. To show your support for caseworkers themselves, bake a batch of cookies from home and hand-write messages that encourage them to keep going.
How else can kids help? Have them collect all the loose coins they can muster and bring them along to Turtle Creek Park on Sunday, October 29 for the 17th annual Change is Good fundraising event. Costumed kids exchange their coin donations for a number of prizes and join in Halloween activities like pumpkin painting and a slime station. Look online for ticket pricing as it’s announced. Learn more at cpdtx.org.
The Birthday Party Project
Speaking of parties, no child is more deserving of a celebration than those who are experiencing homelessness or living in a shelter. This national nonprofit, based in Dallas, provides that for local kids, and we’re not just talking about cake and candles. They provide party hats, gifts, themed costumes, crafts, face paintings—the works—for two-hour blowouts held monthly at more than a dozen partner agencies across Dallas-Fort Worth.
The Birthday Party Project (TBPP) needs attendees young and old for these parties too, so the nonprofit welcomes the public to volunteer as “birthday enthusiasts.” To see which parties are popping up next near you, sign up online and select from a number of specific dates and locations. Each event is designated for a specific age range—such as 5 and up, 8 and up and other age ranges—depending on the age of the child(ren) turning a year older. This way your kids can meet and play alongside those their own age—and the more, the merrier. During the parties, it’s a TBPP tradition for volunteers and birthday enthusiasts join together to form a human tunnel for the birthday kids to run through amid cheers.
Now, these events take a lot of prep work, both on-site and in advance at the nonprofit’s headquarters near the Dallas Design District. If that’s where you prefer to volunteer, they’ve got plenty of tasks there your kids can participate in also, such as organizing toys, wrapping gifts (they don’t need to be perfect!) and filling favor bags. And of course, they accept donations of new, unwrapped toys and party supplies at their offices, too.
More off-site ways to contribute? Decorate handmade birthday cards or assemble party favor bags from home. (Look online for instructions.) Learn more at thebirthdaypartyproject.org.
Meals on Wheels
Senior citizens often live on a fixed income, and when money is tight, so is the food budget. Layer that with mobility issues and loneliness from social isolation, and that’s a recipe for shortening one’s life expectancy. That’s why Meals on Wheels programs all over the country work to consistently hand-deliver nutritious meals, at no or low cost, to the homes of seniors and others who are disabled or otherwise homebound. That’s where volunteers come in.
Local chapters operate independently, so their guidelines may slightly vary but generally kids of all ages are welcome to tag along with their parents or grandparents on neighborhood delivery routes. The seniors often enjoy socializing with youngsters and welcome the short, in-home visits. This is vital too because these deliveries double as home checks and allow them to continue living independently safely.
You can sign up for a weekly route any day Monday–Friday, or less often or as an as-needed substitute. From start to finish, the meal delivery routes generally run from 10:30am–1:30pm, meaning you can have your preschooler home in time for their afternoon nap.
Visit mealsonwheelsamerica.org and type in your zip code to connect with your local chapter, including Meals on Wheels Tarrant County (mealsonwheels.org), Collin County (972/562-6996; mealsonwheelscc.org) and in the Dallas area (214/689-0000; vnatexas.org). Tarrant County’s additional programs—such as Companion Pet Meals, or Friend to Friend—means that volunteers can go further to lend their support, by provided food for their seniors’ dogs or cats too and further socializing with homebound seniors who may have no other visitors.
Tango Charities’ Feed the City
Bread, cheese, mustard and meat—these simple ingredients are all it takes to make a sandwich for someone in need. And every week, local volunteers assemble thousands of them at sandwich-packing parties hosted by nonprofit Tango Charities. On Saturday mornings, volunteers meet up at participating restaurants before they open to the public, for two hours of packing the sandwiches, plus chips and fruit. These meals are then immediately picked up and distributed to a wide network of hunger relief organizations, such as Promise House, which combats youth homelessness.
The best part is that any age can participate. In fact, little kids are a constant and welcome presence. “It doesn’t matter how old you are, you’re able to volunteer with us. We want to give everyone a chance,” says Feed the City founder Nick Marino Jr. (Another perk: When your kids learn how to draw a smiley face with the mustard bottle, maybe they’ll feel empowered to make their own sandwiches at home and pack their lunchboxes for school. It’s a win-win!)
To join the cause as a family, you don’t have to go far either. You’ll find volunteer events in more than a dozen area cities: Arlington, Murphy, Plano and Prosper on first Saturdays; Bedford and Dallas on second Saturdays; Fort Worth, Frisco, Richardson and Rockwall on third Saturdays; and Allen, Dallas, Forney and Irving on fourth Saturdays.
Expect more weekly events coming soon Mansfield and Carrollton too. They’re always looking for more locations to expand and go big with their mission. Fun fact: The year after Feed the City first launched in Dallas in 2015, the organization earned the Guinness World Record for the most people making sandwiches simultaneously.
At their regularly scheduled events, Marino encourages groups of any size, and you don’t have to preregister. Just head to the grocery store and load up on what you’ll need to bring. (See online for their specific asks.) Tango Charities provides the plastic gloves to keep your sandwich-making stations sanitary.
Stay tuned for details to be announced about future events, such as charity concerts and Tango Charities’ One More Give event on New Year’s Eve. Learn more at tangocharities.org.
Holiday Giving
Santa Claus will be in town before we know it. To help make Christmas happen for local kids in need, enlist your kids to take active part in initiatives like Marine Corp Reserve’s Toys for Tots donation drive. Find your local chapter to make toy donations or even host a child-led toy drive as a family. And in early November, you can adopt an “angel” through the Salvation Army Angel Trees, which you can find at many shopping centers and organizations such as NorthPark Center, Galleria Dallas and area YMCAs.
Top image courtesy of The Birthday Party Project
