One of the hottest volunteer trends is family volunteering. Adults want to spend more time with their kids, but most volunteer roles take them away from their families. By volunteering together, family members reconnect in a positive way and strengthen family ties. And this isn't just true of "traditional" families. Single parents can benefit greatly, especially in the summer or during the holidays when some have a brief period of child custody.

Other benefits of involving family units in volunteering are:

• Promoting future generations of volunteers. Surveys show that kids who volunteer are far more likely to volunteer as adults.
• Reaping the rewards of a family's collective creativity.
• Gaining a variety of perspectives on solving a problem.
• Having fun while being together.

In a recent Purdue University study, family members shared why they volunteer. Children reported "religious reasons, fun, quality time with family, and giving back to their community" as the main reasons they volunteered.

Adults identified "being a good role model, transmitting values, having fun, spending quality time together, and religious reasons" as the main reasons they volunteered as a family. Parents said the experiences changed their relationship with their kids and increased family bonds. Families worked more as a team, and parents noticed improvements in children's attitudes toward one another.

Overcoming the challenges of family volunteering

Families come with a range of ages and abilities, often making it complicated to find the right ministry for placement. Some examples of good family volunteer projects are:

• Clean-up projects at church, playgrounds, trails, and parks.
• Staffing the church nursery together.
• Visiting people in need, and helping them with chores and errands.
• Reading to shut-ins.
• Developing a family-to-family relationship with those in a homeless shelter.
• Collecting and distributing groceries for a food pantry.
• Ushering and greeting newcomers at church.
• Sharing a camping trip or sports outing with a single parent's family.
• Doing creative crafts for VBS, or having the family adopt a particular "center" during VBS or camp.

The possibilities are limited only by your imagination!