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February 2016 - Twin Cities |
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JDRF One Walk
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International
Date/Time: Saturday, February 20. Check in starts at 7:30am. Walk start time is 8:30am
Location: Mall of America, Bloomington
Join thousands of others in supporting juvenile diabetes research while walking around Mall of America. The walk starts at 8:30am. (Registration starts at 7:30am.) Walk for as long or short of a time as you'd like! Walk participants are encouraged to support the walk by fundraising or making a donation.
Ages: All ages can walk (or ride in a stroller)
Time Commitment: The walk lasts one hour
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Become a Blanketeer!
Project Linus
Date/Time: Flexible
The Greater Twin Cities Area, MN chapter of Project Linus provides handmade blankets to seriously ill or traumatized children in the Mpls/St. Paul area. Project Linus blanketeers provide new, handmade, washable blankets to be given as gifts to seriously ill and traumatized children, ages newborn-18. All blanket styles are needed in kid-friendly prints and colors- quilts, comforters, fleece, crocheted or knitted afghans, receiving blankets, and 36x45" cotton sheets for PICUs.
Click here for blanket-making directions. The Greater Twin Cities Project Linus chapter (GTCA) provides handmade blankets to children-infants to teens-through charities and hospitals in and around the Twin Cities area, or directly to a child who has suffered a tragic loss. The GTCA Chapter has provided handmade blankets to over 36,376 children, from July 2006 through August 2015. The chapter collects blankets from volunteers who drop them off at one of our drop-off sites, or they mail the blankets to us. Once they receive the blankets, they are inspected at our Club Linus working meetings to make sure they meet the
Project Linus blanket specifications, they are labeled, and then packed in large plastic bags for delivery.
Ages: Everyone can participate
Time Commitment: Flexible
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Love In(Deed)
Wooddale Church
Date/Time: Saturday, February 6, 9am-noon
Location: Wooddale Church Gym, Door 5, 6630 Shady Oak Road, Eden Prairie
Join Love In[Deed] in making a difference in the Twin Cities. Just show up, choose from a variety of pre-planned volunteer opportunities, and then go serve the community. Now you can preregister for the site you like best! Each person in your group must be present to sign up officially by 9am the morning of the event or your spot will be opened for others to register. Limits are set for volunteers based on the project and organization. Some spots will be kept available for those who show up the morning of the event.
Ages: Some sites do require a minimum age due to safety concerns or the nature of the work. However, we ensure that there will be sites open to people of all ages.
Time Commitment: Three hours
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Toss the Snow
Senior Community Services
Date/Time: Through the winter snow season
Location: Residents homes in Minneapolis and suburban Hennepin County
Develop strong muscles by shoveling the snow off a grateful senior citizen's walkways and driveway. Volunteers will shovel after each one-inch or more snowfall, and sand or salt the homeowners walkways after ice storms. You'll need to bring your own shovel or snow blower but the resident will provide the warm smile.
Ages: Family teams are welcome; youth must be age seven or older and supervised by an adult.
Time Commitment: During the winter snow season when it snows more than one inch
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Cooks for Kids Meal Providers
Ronald McDonald House Charities, Upper Midwest
Date/Time: Volunteers serve dinner everyday at 5:30pm; brunch is also served on Saturday and Sunday at 11:30am. Volunteers typically arrive 60-90 minutes earlier in order to get everything prepped and ready.
After a long day in the hospital, a fully prepared meal served by friendly volunteers makes a huge impact families staying at a Ronald McDonald House. The Cooks for Kids meal program gives volunteers a special opportunity to support families who are staying at Ronald McDonald House. Volunteers purchase, prepare and serve a buffet style meal of their choosing and by doing so, they give families one less thing to worry about. Click
here for more information and guidelines for Cooks for Kids volunteers. Younger family members can help prepare food or bake items at home or they can help by preparing breakfast bags (a decorated lunch bag filled with snack items for families to take to the hospital with them).
Ages: Families with children 14 and older are welcome to volunteer onsite; younger children can help with advance preparation or by preparing breakfast bags.
Time Commitment: One time or recurring
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Thrift Shop Volunteers
ARC Value Village
Date/Time: There are a variety of three-hour shifts available seven days a week
Location: Value Village has
locations in Brooklyn Center, New Hope, Richfield, St. Paul, and Bloomington
Help sort, organize and get items ready for sale. Volunteers work together to unpack donations; hang and tag clothes; put price stickers on books, dishes and other hard goods; test small appliances to make sure they work, and more. Arc's Value Village supports of The Arc Greater Twin Cities and its programs and services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.
Ages: Families are welcome. Youth must be at least eight years old.
Time Commitment: Three hours
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Meal Service Volunteers
Loaves & Fishes
Date/Time: Most Loaves & Fishes dinner volunteer shifts start between 2 and 3pm and end by 7pm, depending on day and location
Location: Loaves & Fishes dining sites are
located throughout the metro area.
Loaves & Fishes is a nonprofit meal program in Minnesota, serving a hot meal to those in need. In 2014, they served over 400,000 hot, nutritious meals. Loaves & Fishes volunteers help prepare and serve free meals to those in need. Volunteers who help with meal service assist with assembling trays or plates of food and delivering them to dining site guests. Volunteers also help with cleanup associated with the meal service and dining area maintenance.
Ages: Volunteers must be eight or older
Time Commitment: Typically two hours, depends on exact shift
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Connect the Dots: A Community Thread Speed Volunteering Initiative
Community Thread
Date/Time: Saturday, February 13, 10am - noon
Location: Community Thread, 2300 W Orleans Street, Stillwater
Community Thread's Connect the Dots is a new community-wide event for volunteers of all ages, especially families. Teach the value of volunteerism to your children and strengthen our community by assembling supplies for local nonprofits. Supplies include kitchen packs, hygiene kits, and gift-wrapping sets. Volunteers will walk through a simple assembly line and put together packages. There will also be a coloring station for kids of all ages to express their artistic talent!
Ages: Everyone can participate. Adult supervision is required for volunteers 12 and under.
Time Commitment: Stop by for a few minutes or the full two hours. No prior registration is required.
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Food Bag Decorating
Open Arms
Date/Time: First and third Saturday of every month. Come anytime between 10am and noon.
Location: 2500 Bloomington Avenue South, Minneapolis
Looking for ways to introduce your kids to helping others? Open Arms is hosting
regular family volunteering opportunities, where you can brighten our clients' days by decorating the brown bags we use to deliver food to our clients. Enjoy milk, cookies and coffee while working on a creative activity together!
Ages: Families and children of all ages welcome.
Time Commitment: Up to two hours. Feel free to arrive and depart when needed during the shift.
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Teen Night at the Open Arms Kitchen
Open Arms
Date/Time: Wednesday, February 3, 5 - 7pm
Location: 2500 Bloomington Avenue South, Minneapolis
Open Arms is hosting an opportunity for teens to get into the Open Arms Kitchen. Whether you're an avid chef or new to cooking, you'll meet people your age who are interested in helping people and walk away with some new kitchen experience. There will be a quick training session and then you'll get to prepare and package meals alongside professional chefs in an industrial kitchen. Parents are welcome to drop kids off or hang out during the shift in our community space.
Ages: Youth 13 and older are welcome to volunteer
Time Commitment: Two hours
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DIY Stress Balls
The Family Partnership
Date/Time: Flexible, contact Christy, [email protected], 612.341.1600, to arrange a drop-off time.
The Family Partnership provides counseling services for people struggling with a wide range of challenges: abuse, depression, anxiety, trauma, grief/loss and life transitions. Stress balls help their clients focus. Volunteers are asked to make a minimum of 10 stress balls. Follow these steps to make your stress balls:
1: Gather materials
- Party balloons
- Flour
- Funnel
- Scissors
2: Stretch the balloon
- Using your mouth or a pump blow air into the balloon so that it inflates and stretches.
- Let the air out of the balloon.
3: Fill the balloon with flour
- Using your funnel fill the balloon with flour.
- Make sure to be holding the end of the balloon tightly to avoid a mess.
- Stop putting flour in the balloon when it reaches the neck.
- Don't fill the neck.
- Tie the top into a knot to stop the flour from getting out of the balloon.
4: Avoid a disaster
- Take another balloon (it may be of a different color, the final result will not be affected) and cut most of the neck off using scissors.
- Stretch the second balloon over the first one as a second layer.
- The second layer will help prevent the dispersion of flour all over the place in the event a hole would appear.
Ages: Everyone can participate
Time Commitment: Flexible
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Give An Award
Doing Good Together
Date/Time: Anytime you like
Location: Your home or community
Looking for an alternative to giving out valentines? Your children can celebrate someone they admire with a creative, homemade award. Help recognize the everyday heroes that inspire your family! Visit the
Doing Good Together Give an Award project page for award ideas and reflection questions.
Ages: Everyone can participate
Time Commitment: Varies
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Please Join Us for A Benefit Celebrating
Doing Good Together!
Save the Date: Thursday, April 14, 5:30-8:30pm
American Swedish Institute
For more details or to donate visit
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| This list was compiled by Doing Good Together™ (www.doinggoodtogether.org)
When calling to volunteer for any of the opportunities listed above, please let the coordinator know you found it through this listing. You are encouraged to ask any questions you may have of the sponsoring organization before committing to a project.
Disclaimer: This list is provided as a service to families. Inclusion of organizations in this listing does not imply affiliation, endorsement or quality assurance on the part of Doing Good Together.™ Doing Good Together™ bears no responsibility whatsoever for the activities and actions of the listed organizations.
© 2016 Doing Good Together™
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