"Summer" by Kevin Dooley

Imagine it's the end of June and you have a family. Your kids have already told you, "I'm bored" 50 to 100 times. You want to give back and volunteer, but home and work just cut into your time and money. So, what are your options? Here are a few, from the simple to complex in random order(some may have to be in planning stages this summer in order to do them the next year)

1. Volunteer Vacations

USFWS Mountain-Prairie

This option is not for you if you have young children or don't have a lot of vacation time. A few links to check out if you are interested;

Family Travel Network - vacations for the entire family

Volunteer vacations for families in the U.S.

Family Volunteer Projects (for families with

children under 18)

2. Volunteer locally

by verino77

Join and search VolunteerMatch to find opportunities sorted by distance and/or interest.

3. Host an exchange student

photo by Eric Fischer

This requires a commitment of 10 to 12 months, but it can be very worthwhile for you, your family, as well as the student. My family hosted a student from Germany and one from the Netherlands via Face The World over 5 years ago. To learn more, look at these links;

Face The World

Host An Exchange Student | AFS USA | AFS-USA

Hosting & Volunteer Opportunities | Exchange Programs

Home | CSIET

4. Take on 1 charity project and do it with your relatives , church or neighborhood

By Sannita [CC-BY-SA-3.0

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or

GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)],

via Wikimedia Commons

A lemonade stand for children with cancer, a canned food drive(food banks typically get more donors around Winter), a carnival or any of these cool ideas: Summer Charity Projects for Kids - ABC News

5. Use a search provider that gives to a favorite cause

by wikipedia

You use the web to search for fun or work, why not

make each search add up to some good by using Dailygood by Goodsearch or iGive.com to raise funds for a favorite charity?

6. Donate a fan

Donate a new or gently used fan to the Salvation Army.

More Images @ MyNiceProfile.com

So what do you think of these? Want to try one or more of these or do you have any better ideas? Please let me know in the comments below or @Appls4aCause and use the hashtag #bettersummer.

photo outline

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