Family Volunteer Day Kicks Off Holiday Season!

Children are holding bake sales and penny drives. Teens are loading heavy supplies on an assembly line. Families are adopting families through virtual volunteering. People of all ages are working hard to help those hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy. Families across the country can join efforts to help those most in need on Family Volunteer Day, taking place Nov. 17. For more than two decades, Family Volunteer Day has been held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving to kick off the holiday season with giving and service.

The day of service is sponsored by Disney Friends for Change, a global initiative that inspires kids and families to take action to help people, communities and the planet, and powered by generationOn, Points of Light’s youth service program. “Family volunteering is a hands-on way for children to learn the values of kindness, compassion, tolerance, community responsibility and good citizenship,” said Concetta Bencivenga, executive director of generationOn. “It’s also a meaningful way for families to spend time together, have fun and help shape a lifelong value of service.” Hundreds of projects will take place across the country on Family Volunteer Day, including:

In Washington, D.C., families will spend the day at the Armed Forces Retirement home visiting with residents and helping them prepare for the holidays with a host of hands-on projects including raking leaves, cleaning up the grounds and hosting a “Wheelchair Wash.”

In Glendale, Ariz., families will help with a neighborhood beautification project by cleaning up yards and painting the homes of veterans, the elderly and those with disabilities. In Dallas, at the Volunteer Center of North Texas, families will support eight local nonprofit agencies by making holiday gift bags for Meals on Wheels, cooking and packaging healthy lunches with the American Diabetes Association and transplanting saplings through the Texas Trees Foundation.

In Covington, Ga., youth and family volunteers will make “no sew” blankets that will be donated to Project Linus, an organization that collects and distributes blankets to critically ill children in hospitals, shelters and social service agencies.

In Los Angeles, more than 100 Disney VoluntEARS and community volunteers will come together to participate in a day of service at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to sort and box food for people in need in the local community.

As part of Disney’s Friends for Change support, Radio Disney local stations in multiple markets will also be on site at the events as part of the network’s Project Family initiative, which inspires families to spend time together in an effort to make lasting, positive change at home, in their community and the world at large. Families that would like to join Family Volunteer Day activities can search online for a volunteer project near them. Families can also find online information, project ideas and resources for their own service projects at http://www.generationon.org/parents/family-volunteer-resources.

Related articles

• DFB Guide to the Walt Disney World Holidays 2012 e-Book (chipandco.com)
• Disney Food Blog Guide to the Walt Disney World Holidays 2012 e-Book (chipandco.com)

Let our friends at Destinations to Travel help you book your next Disney Vacation. They are the preferred Travel Agency of Chip and Company and Disney Addicts, and who we use ourselves.

Get started below for your FREE No Obligation Quote.

Book With our friends at Destinations to Travel

Who is your Travel Agent?(Required)

Let us pick for youEric HilesStacy ReedAbbey JohnsonAlisa SullivanAlli WillisAmanda FolsomAmanda VannAmber BrillhartAmber FisherAmy SieburnAndrea SmithAngela AndersonAngie BaycuraAnna PetrilliAnnabelle DuboseApril StefanskiAshley RamseyBeth ParsonsBetsy SantoroBrandie McQueenBrian BuckleyBridget HatchBryan SchwartzCandice SneedCarrie ButlerCarson DockumCasey BoltCharleen HortonChelsea RoyChelsea WuebkerChris BoyerChristie GrubeChristina FratturaChristina SmithCourtney WhiteCraig YoderDan MercedDanielle NorcrossDarby MouritsenDavid ForrestDeborah AlvaradoEmilee BiegelEmily MorrisFaith HakesGail HatchGreg MatzkerHelen HummerHolly CurryJackie CavistonJaclyn PepitoneJamie SwansonJeanine JordanJeff CallahanJenni MaierJennifer BrownJennifer StephensonJennifer StoessnerJessica HatfieldJessica HuffJessica WunderJoe GuertinJon CarpentierJoseph SliwaJulie McCombJustin BrownKat AttridgeKathryn EberhartKathy AndersonKatie HarrellKatie PrevotKayla CookKelsey SullensKim HelmsKimberly HutchinsonKristi GallagherKyle RamsdenLauren DewlenLeanne MonterLinda DurhamLindsay AckermannLindsey VromanLissette BritoLori HardyMallory MorrisonMandi QuinnMaranda PerkinsMarisa AlvaradoMegan TeismannMeghan BlairMelissa ReedMichele KlineMike BeyerMissy McCormickMisty DickersonNancy CasteelNicole ThorntonPatrick O'ConnorPaul SulPeyton Ward-KubikRaylene CooganRegan OstranderRobbie BulusRobert ThomasSara SolbergSarah McCandlishShanna BrowningShelley BennettShelly MetzStacy CristStacy KrzyminskiStacy SmithStephanie DraganoStephanie FerencStephanie WalshSusannah McCordTara SlusserTerri MillerTiffany DobraskiTiffany DrenkhahnTina FarmerTonya LesiukTracy DaneTroy DuncanVeronica RenteriaVicki FesslerWendy CarllWendy HauserWendy KellehanWendy Shelley

Name(Required)

First Last

Email(Required)

Phone(Required)

Destination(Required)

Walt Disney WorldDisneyland ResortDisney Cruise LineAulani, A Disney Resort and SpaAulani, A Disney Resort and SpaUniversal FloridaUniversal HollywoodRoyal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian or other Cruise LineI don't know yet

# of Adults(Required)

# of Children(Required)

Check-in-Date(Required)

MM slash DD slash YYYY

Check-out-Date(Required)

MM slash DD slash YYYY

Comments, Questions or Special Requests

Phone

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

For the BEST in Disney, Universal, Dollywood, and SeaWorld Theme Park News, Entertainment, Merchandise & More follow us on, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube. Don't forget to check out the Chip and Company Radio Network too!