Youth Involved on Giving Tuesday | DeAnn M. Cox | MileStone Academy
GivingTuesday is an excellent opportunity for adults to share their values around philanthropy and get young people involved in doing good right where they live.
Giving back makes everyone feel empowered, and teaching the value of kindness can have lifelong benefits. This includes enhancing your mood, fostering optimism, reducing depression, and creating healthy relationships.
Generosity offers higher rates of happiness. We must talk to our kids about charity if we want our youth to be generous.
Start by asking your young people what causes, and issues matter most to them or what aspects of their local community they would like to help.
8 Ways for Youth to Take Part in Giving Tuesday
Here are eight suggestions to try with youth who would like to take part in Giving Tuesday:
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Being outdoors: clean up a neighborhood playground, park, or beach; or donate to local conservation organizations.
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Concerned about the well-being of other kids: collect and donate school supplies; run a toy drive before the holiday season; visit a children’s hospital.
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Help create a kinder society: make a generosity wall in a public space and encourage others to write thoughtful messages, or paint kindness rocks and hide them throughout the neighborhood.
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Aid the homeless in your community: prepare care kits and deliver them to homeless shelters.
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Rescuing and loving animals: set up a donation drive to support animals in need or organize an online fundraiser for the local shelter.
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Support our servicemen and women: write thank you messages to first responders; send letters to troops overseas.
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Address cyberbullying: ask your school if you can help create an anti-bullying campaign and help plan a virtual rally about it.
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Ending hunger: create bagged lunches and give them to anyone who might be hungry or help raise money for your local food bank.
3 Ways You Can Get Involved Right Now
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Connect: Follow #GivingTuesdaySpark on Instagram and connect with other kids committed to doing good.
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Get Ideas: Check out GivingTuesdaySpark.com, which has additional free, youth-focused resources, including online lessons, inspiring stories about young philanthropists, coloring pages, dinner discussion topics, and more.
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Share: If your kids use social media, encourage them to join the #GivingTuesday challenge, post their act of generosity on TikTok or Instagram, and join celebrities and influencers from all over the world on the global day of giving on November 29.
For more ideas and opportunities, check out the GivingTuesday Global Network.
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Sources: GivingTuesday.org, GivingTuesday. Bloomerang and Kindful, The Key to Planning a Successful GivingTuesday, How to Get Your Kids Involved in Social Good on GivingTuesday, GivingTuesday Global Network.
