Doing Good Together (Sarah Aadland)
Instagram @DoingGoodTogether
Facebook: Doing Good Together
https://www.doinggoodtogether.org/
What is Doing Good Together and how did you first get involved?
Sarah first discovered Doing Good Together ten years ago when the Haiti disaster happened and her daughter was 4 years old. Her daughter was going around the house looking for items to donate and Sarah wanted to keep the passion for giving going and started researching ways for a family to volunteer and practice empathy, especially for young children. During this research she discovered Doing Good Together which was the only local resource of it’s kind that gave lessons in compassion and empathy to children along with a list of volunteer opportunities for families. Eventually Sarah became involved and is now the director of the Big Hearted Families program.
What are the different sections of the company and what can people find when you visit the website?
Doing Good Together works with organizations and families of all types to create service fairs and workshops, especially for those who are working with young children. A very popular tool they provide is a monthly newsletter that provides practical tools for families to use at home. They also have the program called the Big Hearted Families, which provides tons of service projects you can do at home and habits you can share with your families to use during service projects. It also has a huge library collection of book recommendations that help teach empathy.
What are some of the service projects that you can do at home?
- Decorate Meals on Wheels bags at home for the elderly.
- Send letters to soldiers.
- Create greeting cards for children in the hospital or the elderly.
- Set a place at your table for the homeless, and put coins, foods etc at there spot to donate at a later time.
- Adopt a local Food Shelf. Decorate a box or grocery bag and everytime you go grocery shopping stock up on items that food shelves need, and have your child help with the grocery shopping as well as dropping off the items.
- Make every walk in the park a clean-up walk. Include an extra bag and garden gloves every time you go on a walk and clean up as you walk along.
- There is a printable on the website called Magic Mail where you can send artwork to someone who needs cheering up or various organizations.
- Count the items in your house
What are some good ways to have a conversation with your family so that they understand empathy and why giving back to others is so important?
Repetition is so important, bring up a topic one day, read a book about it another day, do a service project that relates with that topic etc. Another fantastic idea is to ask your children every day “Who did you help today?” Make sure and include how YOU have helped others as well so your children will be able to get ideas from you as well as see you as a good example. Sarah also uses what she calls “Do 180s” where she discusses people that may have been a little crabby or struggling that day and discuss WHY they may be feeling that way and view it differently so that your children can practice empathy.
What are your favorite book recommendations around the topic of volunteering and teaching empathy?
On the website there is an entire section devoted to Reading with Empathy, with tons of book recommendations for all sorts of projects that connect with the various projects. Some of Sarah’s favorites are:
- Her Right Foot by Dave Eggers
- What is Given From the Heart by Patricia C McKissack
- The Lunch Thief by Anne C Bromley
Each month you send out a monthly newsletter about various volunteer opportunities, what ages are the events geared towards and what type of events are included?
The events are typically for all ages and includes a variety of events. Typically it includes a few projects you can do at home such as creating a hygiene kit or a welcome kit for immigrants, for example. Some of the events included are repackaging food at food shelves, dropping off home baked cookies, feed my starving children and more. The newsletter arrives a week or so before the month begins so you can schedule out your service projects for the next month.
Doing Good Together is a non-profit and accepting donations, if you are interested in donating or learning more about the various service project options, please visit their website at https://www.doinggoodtogether.org/