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Of all the possible ways to give back to your community during the holiday season (and the entire year, too), collecting socks might seem like the smallest of ways to make a difference. In reality, it’s not such a small gesture! The socks that you collect or donate don’t have to be boring six-packs of plain white gym socks…. they can be whimsical or even hand knitted!
For the new year, make a family commitment to spreading kindness throughout your community! Rather than creating resolutions for self-transformation based on perceived flaws, celebrate your skills and share your love for those around you by engaging in acts of kindness all year long. It’s a powerful project!
Teaching kindness can happen naturally, but it takes dedication to create a family culture of constant kindness. Drawing inspiration from Random Acts of Kindness Week, families can share their love and appreciation for the people around them during the holiday season by participating in random acts of kindness – acts of varying size and shape that show your community that you care. Parents can even use resources offered in lesson plans to work on creating a family culture of kindness!
– Support Hilltown Families with your tax deductible donation during Valley Gives on Wednesday, December 10th so we can generate 1,500 more hours of service & kindness to our community!Help us generate 1,500 more hours of community service!
Hilltown Families’ Family Community Service Night at The Art Garden in Shelburne Falls, MA DIY Mittens & Scarves for Families in Transition Friday, January 17th, 2014 from 4-7pm What better gift to receive in the winter than a warm pair of handmade mittens or cozy handmade scarf; and what better gift to give to someone in your community than something you have lovingly made? On Friday, January 17th from 4-7pm, Hilltown Families… Read More
What better gift to receive in the winter than a warm pair of handmade mittens or cozy handmade scarf; and what better gift to give to someone in your community than something you have lovingly made? .. Join us for an evening of community service art-making on Friday, Jan. 17th from 4-7pm at The Art Garden in Shelburne Falls, MA, for “DIY Mittens & Scarves for Families in Transition,” the second in a series of five free family community service nights…
Have you heard of Spread the Bread? This global grassroots bread-giving initiative encourages families to bake bread and share with others. It was begun as a way to involve kids in charitable giving at an early age so that they would see it as a way of life… and a great way for families to participate in community service at home on a snow day!
Hands-on volunteering experiences can sometimes be hard to find for families with younger children. There are many terrific of organizations within our community that need volunteers to help with a variety of jobs, but often these jobs are skill-specific or take place in environments that may not be welcoming to young children. However, there are lots of community service projects that kids can do at home that make just as large an impact as in-person volunteering…
This coming Friday evening… Hilltown Families and The Art Garden will be collaborating again this year in a series of Free Family Community Service Nights! The first in the series will be on Friday, December 13th from 4-7pm: “A Serving of Art.” Join us in Shelburne Falls for an evening of art and community service, making reusable handmade canvas placemats and collecting nonperishable foods to donate to Stone Soup Cafe in Greenfield, MA. Families will also be invited to make a special canvas placemat to take and give to an elder in their life or a home-bound senior in their community…
Spread the spirit of giving and build community this holiday season by organizing a collection drive to support Socks for Seniors! The organization has been collecting socks all over the country for more than ten years! The socks collected in each drive are then given to elderly community members in order to keep their toes nice and warm throughout the winter and share some of the holiday spirit that inspired the project in the first place…
Hilltown Families and The Art Garden will be collaborating again this year in a series of Free Family Community Service Nights! The first in the series will be on Friday, December 13th from 4-7pm: “A Serving of Art.” Join us in Shelburne Falls for an evening of art and community service, making reusable handmade canvas placemats and collecting nonperishable foods to donate to Stone Soup Cafe in Greenfield, MA. Families will also be invited to make a special canvas placemat to take and give to an elder in their life or a home-bound senior in their community…
Cranes for Compassion Most professors assign a final paper or exam to end the semester, but Andriana Foiles, adjunct professor of Ethnic and Gender Studies at Westfield State University, had her students conduct a campus-wide presentation on the importance of kindness. Called Cranes for Compassion, Foiles’s Intro to Women’s Studies students spent weeks collecting stories of random acts of kindness and documented the stories on papers that were folded into paper cranes…. Read More
Connecting and Supporting Community with Bread (and Biscuits!) Does your family do a lot of baking during the holidays? Why not make an extra loaf or two and share with someone in need or a local hero? Spread the Bread, a global grassroots bread-spreading initiative, is encouraging families to do just that! Community members are encouraged to bake (or buy) bread, wrap it with a note of hope, inspiration or gratitude, and… Read More
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