It is so important for children to realize that not everyone has the things they have. When they are hungry, you have food to offer them. They probably have three meals a day and a snack or two. Taking the time to gather food to take to give to others and actually delivering it to the food pantry is a tremendous gift to our children. It is also helps the food pantry. Let me share with you ways I give food to the food pantry near me.

My son and I have been taking food to our local food pantry since he was a little guy. If I am honest, he hasn’t always liked going there. The times we have been there and found the shelves nearly empty were upsetting for him. I have explained to him that we are adding food to the shelves. If we do it often enough, we can help them stay full.

Ways I Give to the Food Pantry Near Me

• We have taken non-food items that we know they need like baby diapers. Finding non-food items that pantries and food bank needs is great way to help. Items like diapers aren’t always covered by public assistance.
• We have taken a shopping list that I made with visuals so my son can easily find the items the food bank needs. Having a list to look at while we go up and down the aisles gives my son something to do will be shop. Plus he has sharp eyes that notice things I might have walked by.
• I organized a food drive in my Sunday school class and we added items food box. It was a lot of fun to take over a lot of food. It is very exciting to walk into the food pantry near me with a huge box of food.
• We gathered together food that would be needed to fix a main dish. We have given all  the foods needed to make chicken noodle soup. It is up to the pantry as to whether they will keep the ingredients together. Gathering recipe ingredients helped us decide on the items we would give.
• We searched up and down the aisles to find as many items as we could that were a certain color. I remember looking for  orange items. It was such fun looking orange foods and food that had orange packaging. I bet you can guess who found the most!

Looking for More Ways to Teach Kids to Give

Over time my son has gotten more comfortable with visiting the food bank. That makes me so happy. I really want him to remember to offer kindness to others. For more ways to teach your children about giving please visit my Teaching Thankfulness and Gratitude board on Pinterest.

Appreciate Your Mail Carrier and Others in Your Community
Creating a simple card or portrait of the community helper to present to them along with thanks for what they do.

Buy Two More Cans
When you are at the store, have your child select two cans of vegetables or soup that you can donate to a local food bank.

Cart Returns
We find grocery carts all over store parking lots. Taking a few minutes to put a few in the cart return area will make it easier for others to park and clears that lot.

Design a Snowflake
Create a collection of snowflakes and deliver them to a nursing home. Ask the receptionist if there is anyone who needs a surprise. Tell them you have brought a snowstorm that can be used to decorate this person’s room.

Enter Buildings and Hold the Door
Teach your children to look back as they are going through a door. If there is someone coming up right behind you, hold the door open for them.

Find a Person to Show Love To
Check with your local church and see if there is a person you really could use a card, a home cooked meal, or maybe even someone to sit by them at church. I still get Christmas cards from the widower I sat with at my old church.

Greetings
Children can learn from us how to greet people. Do we say “Good morning!”, “How are you?”, or even “I am so glad I have run in you!” A simple greeting can really make someone’s day.

Helping Hands
Keeping our eyes open to what is going on around us can help us see ways to offer a helping hand. Neighbors that need help with weeding their yard. People that drop things and need help picking them up. There are opportunities to serve others all around us.

Iced Tea or Burgers
When you are going through a drive through to pick up a meal or a drink, why not pay for the drink or the burger for the car behind you. You don’t have to pick up their whole meal if you don’t want to. You can simply pay for their beverage.

Jumping in Front of You in Line
If you have someone in line behind you at a store with only two items or a very fussy child, why not let them go in front of you in line.

Keep Library Shelves Neat
After story time at the library, the shelves at our library are a mess. If you happen to see library books all messed up or on the floor or scattered across the top of the shelves, take a minute to put them away.

Let People Know You Care
Take a moment when you pick your child up for school or a lesson to have them thank their teachers or instructors for what they do.

Move to the Middle
We usually sit at the end of the pew at church so that we can leave quickly if we need to. That means everyone that gets to church late has to crawl over the people on the ends like us to get to an open seat. Whether you are at church or the movies why not move to the middle.

Necessities Shared with Others
Save the little bottles of shampoo and body wash that hotels have out for you during your stays and give them to your local homeless shelter. Visitors to homeless shelters are often given a packet of toiletries. Miniature bottles of shampoo and body wash are perfect for those packets.

Open Your Boxes
Simply opening your cardboard cereal and other food boxes so they are flat before you put them in the recycling bin will save space for others to put their items to be recycled.

Please and Thank You
Remembering to say please and thank you to family members and others we encounter shows them a certain form of respect. We all need that.

Quest for Treasures to Donate
Have your children join you in a quest around your home to look for things that you can donate to a local charity.

Remembering to Respect
Remembering that everybody is human and needs respect is important. It is so easy to make a comment about how someone looks, acts, or lives. Remembering to teach our children that we can help someone that needs help. We can remember that what someone is doing maybe due to something that has happened to them. Talking about people we encounter with respect helps children to not look down on someone just because they are different.

Saving Coupons
Did you know that you could save coupons even recently expired ones and send them to military bases? Children can cut out coupons that you can send to bases around the world.

Treats for Service People
I know I talked about drawing pictures and making them cards, but you could also make cookies with your kids and take them to your local fire department or police station.

Use Your Gifts
Each of us have been given unique gifts as have each of our children. Look for ways to use your gifts to help others around you.

Volunteer
Does your local school need reading buddies? Does your church need Sunday school helpers? Is there a senior in your neighborhood that needs a ride to church? There are so many ways that we can help others.

Watch Each Others Children
If you have a friend that needs to have someone watch their children while they go to the doctors or even just the store, ask if you can help.

X-Ray Your Attitude About Giving
Stop for a moment and look at why you are giving. Are you giving just to because your school or church is having a drive? Are you trying to make a difference? It may not matter to the person you are giving to, but it can make a difference in your life. Giving from my heart some how effects me differently than doing it out of obligation.

Zipper Up and Mitten In
When you are buying or your child a new pair of mittens or a winter coat, remember to donate the ones your child has grown out of. Just this year I have had two different opportunities to donate coats JDaniel can no longer wear. I had only one coat to give so I have to go to a consignment store to get the second one. I am so glad there are two more four year olds that have warm coats.

These are just a few ideas of ways to show kindness. I bet you can come up with at least 26 more.