Seattle's Child

Your guide to a kid-friendly city

family volunteer

Family volunteer opportunities all year round

There are so many ways you can help!

Many families are more determined than ever to incorporate giving back into their year, especially around seasonal holidays.  These websites can help you find volunteer opportunities for your whole family.

Also: If you’d like to adopt a family for the holidays, here are resources for that.

Family volunteer idea: Find your best fit

United Way of King County 
Searchable database of volunteer activities that enables you to search for family-friendly options. Volunteer opportunities include tutoring, helping families who experiences homelessness, and students/families who experience hunger.

Volunteer Match
Searchable database allows you to filter results based on specific causes, as well as matches that are a good fit for kid and teen volunteers. A recent check revealed 1,145+ potential volunteer opportunities, so surely there is something that will fit your family’s interests and abilities!

Doing Good Together
Compiles lists of family-friendly volunteering opportunities called Big-Hearted Families. Listings aren’t searchable/sortable, but all opportunities are created with families in mind and with a general theme of kindness. Age restrictions are included in the listings. Sign up for their newsletter by city and receive opportunities right to your inbox.

Family volunteer idea: Host a food drive

A food drive is something your whole family can be involved in. Many organizations provide resources such as printable flyers, collection containers and pickup at the conclusion of your drive. Here are just a few of the organizations you could partner with:

Food Lifeline
A member of Feeding America, Food Lifeline distributes donations to 275 member agencies across Western Washington and welcomes assistance via food drives conducted either online or in real life.

Northwest Harvest
Statewide nonprofit that uses donations to provide more than 2 million meals to Washingtonians every month.

Emergency Feeding Program of Seattle and King County
Works with more than 200 partner agencies across King County to provide food bags to anyone in need, supplying 430,000 meals per year.

Hopelink
Offers food bank, food delivery and emergency feeding services to families in crisis in the following areas: Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Shoreline and Sno-Valley.

Read More

Have toys to donate? Here’s where to do it

More ideas on ways to make a difference this holiday season 

About the Author

Dawn Zedonis