6 Community Service Ideas for MLK Day with Family

There’s never a bad time for finding volunteer opportunities to help those less fortunate, but spending MLK Day with family and participating in family-friendly activities on this National Day of Service is the ideal moment to experience the soul-enriching joys of giving back to your community. Here are six easy, enjoyable MLK Day family service projects to try and National Day of Service activities for kids this month.

The unhoused in your community need support year-round, but the winter can be fierce. To help, but fresh pairs of thick wool socks and fill them with granola bars, hand warmers, bottles of water, deodorant, chapstick, and gift cards to local convenience stores. Keep these care packages in your car and when you see someone living outside on the street, pull over and share a bit of kindness with them, see them, say hello, and know that this small act can have a huge impact not only on them but on your children, too.

Whether you put in a shift at a shelter, food bank, community center, cleaning up a local park, or another community asset nearby, such as volunteering at a local fishing clinic or event, finding family-friendly volunteer opportunities on MLK Day is one great way to involve kids in giving back and honor MLK’s legacy of service to others.

One of the great community service ideas for an MLK Day Celebration in your neighborhood is to ask elderly residents on your street if they would like the leaves raked off their lawn, snow shoveled from their driveways, or a fresh batch of cookies delivered to their front door. Checking in on the elderly, ensuring their heat is on and working, and that they are safe and okay during the colder months is one way of celebrating MLK Day with family and friends. Plus, while you are outside, you may experience some of the health benefits of nature.

Celebrating MLK Day with family and friends doesn’t always have to mean volunteering or being outside shoveling snow. You can put out a call to neighbors, friends, and family members and make collecting winter coats and stuffed animals one of your National Day of Service activities for kids. Staying warm and having a new plush toy to snuggle will bring comfort and joy to the unhoused and others who are less fortunate than you, and make this an MLK Day with Family to remember.

This National Day of Service activity is all about taking care of your community’s four-legged friends! Gather up old sheets, towels, and blankets and make a donation (and maybe ask about volunteer opportunities, too) to a local animal shelter. These household extras you have around your home will help keep shelter pets warm, clean, and ready for adoption!

When it comes to the best educational activities for MLK Day with family, consider spending time together reading children’s books about the acts of resistance, charity, and change MLK did during his life. Then write poems about your hopes for the future and discuss with your kids the big dreams they have for a better tomorrow. National Day of Service activities for kids are a great way to directly impact your community together as a family, but sometimes, these subtle educational moments at home are the ones that will have the biggest and longest-lasting impact on young people.

Looking for more ways to give back? Check out these 8 ways you can make a difference!