Community Give-Back Project Idea: Kindness Kits. Gift Ideas for Seniors

Are you looking for a way to teach your children how to have a heart for serving others? Community give-back projects are a great idea.I’ve partnered with Ready to Care to share how to teach kids the value of seniors in our communities by creating kindness kits.

When I was in college, I took a class called "Exceptional People." The course was filled with information about people with special needs or disabilities. It explained how a diverse group of people who have varied experiences share a common attribute: that people without disabilities viewed them as different. I learned a lot during that semester, but one thing I really took away from it was the value of community service. As a requirement of the course, students had to complete several hours of community service that benefited those with special needs or disabilities. I chose Meals on Wheels as my service project and am so glad I did.

While I cruised around with a friend in her Jeep delivering hot meals to the lesser-visited areas of our college town, I got a firsthand look at how the seniors in our community were living. I met dozens of people on our route and for the majority of them, our delivery was the only time they interacted with anyone throughout the day. I perceived their loneliness and isolation. Some of them were so friendly and welcoming that it made me wish we could stay longer to visit. I've thought about so many of these people over the years and I knew I wanted my kids to serve seniors when they were old enough. Now that they're 4 and 7, I feel like these are the perfect ages to show them how much good they can do with just a little bit of effort.

They're still a bit too young to help with Meals on Wheels so we decided to put together some kindness kits to deliver to our city's Senior Activities Center. I knew they'd love this project because they love giving gifts. They even volunteered to use some of their own money to buy some of the items for our kits. That made my heart so happy!

As we were preparing our kindness kits, I explained to my kids how these small gifts were going to brighten the days of seniors in our community. We talked about the fact that although we may never meet any of these people, we'd be making an impact on their lives. We also talked about how they might have made an impact on our lives too. Perhaps some of these seniors were teachers who might have taught their current teachers. Or, maybe they served in the war and fought for the freedom that we enjoy each and every day. These seniors are the backbone of our society and we should all be doing something to give back. That's why I love Ready to Care.

Ready to Care is an initiative by Home Instead Senior Care®. Its main goal is to enhance the lives of aging adults and their families. Ready to Care encourages people to do simple acts of kindness for seniors in their communities with the premise if we all care just a little, we can make a big difference.

Are you wondering how Ready to Care works? It's easy to understand and it's FREE. Ready to Care challenges people to complete Care Missions, which guides you through various ways to serve seniors through small actions or volunteering. You'll also learn about the aging crisis and issues impacting seniors and learn about ways to give to causes that help seniors. Most of the Care Missions are small-scale, like simply opening a door, helping a senior with a chore, or learning about a disease like Alzheimer's which affects nearly 5.8 million Americans. Each week, a new Care Mission is delivered right to your phone via text message. It's an easy reminder to care.

Just a few weeks ago, my Care Mission was to simply say "Hi" to a Senior. Science shows that even small social gestures can have a positive impact on physical and emotional health. So, my goal was to put down my phone and say hello to as many seniors as I could. It was SO easy and I got a lot of positive feedback.

What's in our kindness kits for seniors:

• Puzzle books: We found crossword books, Sudoko, and word search books at our local dollar store.
• Sweet treats: We included hard candies and chocolates.
• Lotion. Who doesn't look a good hand lotion? You could also include other personal care items too.
• Playing cards: These are a great choice since they can play in teams or play games solo. We found these at the dollar store too.
• Homemade cards and notes.

I really wanted my kids to be hands-on when creating these kindness kits, so I let them do most of the work. They got to pick out which books would go together, which candies to include and they even assembled the stack. It's best to tape the components together before tying them with ribbon. You could also use small gift bags instead. My kids love receiving gifts tied with ribbon so using ribbon on these was a must for them.

They really enjoyed creating artwork and writing cards. Don't forget to include those! I'm certain that they'll brighten the day of their recipient.

Here are some other gift ideas for seniors you could include:

• Cozy blankets
• Slippers
• A portable magnifying glass with LED light
• Gift card for groceries or to a grocery delivery service.
• Jar and bottle opener to assist with opening.

What else would you add to our kindness kits?
Do you have any gift ideas for seniors?

If you're looking for other random acts of kindness for seniors, be sure to check out my other post. Also, don't forget to sign up for the free text alerts and Care Missions from Ready to Care. A little bit of kindness can go a long way and we can do so much if we all work together to care for our seniors.