“It makes children like me feel really important, that we can make a huge impact in our community and we’re learning skills we don’t even learn at school!”
These words are from one of the young children who takes part in Family Volunteering Club, a charity I created to make it really easy for young kids and to volunteer alongside their grown ups.
We all know how brilliant volunteering is. There is oodles of research which tells us why it’s great for our physical and mental health, our personal development, making direct change to societal injustices, our connection with communities – and of course our connection with each other.
But what about when kids volunteer?
I created FVC in 2019 as a reaction to being unable to find child-friendly volunteering opportunities after having my first child. But now – as well as it still being about making volunteering accessible for adults, our focus at FVC is really mostly on the impact for the kids. Every week in different towns and cities across the UK we have young volunteers aged 0 – 9 out in their communities making a positive difference, alongside their grown ups.
There is a lot of goodness in the world but there are also challenges. We are living in a time when social disconnection and social division is very present – and if we consider ways to counter this – one of the best things we can do is get outside, connect with our neighbours and use our voice, time and actions to make positive change in our local communities. At FVC our children and families do just this. They come along and learn about important societal issues, they make practical change and then perhaps (and hopefully!) begin to question why these injustices even exist. All whilst having fun with their family and
friends.
“I really loved this activity because it gave us the chance to help others together.”
participant – a FVC family
Getting kids volunteering at a young age is a brilliant gateway to social responsibility, activism and democracy. This may sound heavy and rather ‘serious’ for young kids – but actually, in practice this looks like; spending time planting bee friendly plants in the local community garden, creating and delivering a care package to a lonely older neighbour, organising clothes donations for people who are experiencing homelessness, playing bingo in the care home down the road, picking up litter in the local park – and so many more examples that you can see us doing at FVC.
Volunteering helps children flex their ‘civic muscle’ and learn from a young age why it’s fun and important to help in your community. They come away feeling proud, empowered and listened to.
By making caring for our community something easy, fun and embedded seamlessly into family life – FVC is helping create stronger, better connected and more empathetic communities.