Many towns look to their residents for volunteer help with park and public space maintenance or improvement. Talk to your local parks and recreation department to see if there are any beautification or improvement projects going on that your family can get involved in. Many of these projects can teach your family about local landscaping and gardening, plus they're a great active outdoors project.

Finding Volunteering Projects in Your Area

If your family has a passion for a certain kind of good cause, whether it's raising money or awareness for a disease, animal rights, fighting hunger, or environmental improvement, there's always a way to get involved in your area. Check with national charities or organizations on the web for lists of ways to get involved with local extensions, or information on forming your own chapter.

If you know of a non-profit or charity organization in your area that you'd like to help, don't be afraid to contact them and extend the offer. Many animal and homeless shelters rely on the good faith of volunteers to come to them when they have projects. Most organizations will have a volunteer coordinator who can set you and your family up with weekly or monthly scheduled volunteer projects or hours, so it's easy to schedule family volunteer time.

If you're looking for more spontaneous projects, there are many websites that can help you get connected. VolunteerMatch.org is a great national database that allows users to create a profile with their project preferences and sign up for opportunities online. You can search hundreds of projects in your area, find organizations, and even do virtual volunteering with online tutoring and pen pal programs.