Raising Thankful Kids - Thanksgiving Edition

This year for Thanksgiving we wanted to make sure our family was giving back to our community. We are so blessed, and there are so many people experiencing truly difficult realities.

We want to instill a sense of appreciation and service to our community in our children. We started talking to our 5 year old about Thanksgiving and all that we have to be thankful for and how we were going to include her in giving back. We discussed how there are many families who don't have important things they need, like food, for the holidays. This is a concept that I'm not sure S completely understands, because she's never experienced any true need.

I loaded the kids up and we went shopping for non-perishable Thanksgiving food items. I let S help think of all the foods eaten at Thanksgiving, and she picked out which we should purchase. She was very proud that we were going to help a family in the community to have a Thanksgiving Dinner. We also purchased a rectangle laundry basket to donate with the goods for delivery to local families.

We're donating our basket to The Sandbox, a wonderful local organization in Charlotte that locks arms with families whose children are battling cancer or other life-threatening illnesses. They help these families throughout the year by assisting them with the day to day needs that are out of reach because they are caring for a sick child. The Sandbox has many fundraisers and events throughout the year, including the annual 'Evening of Believing' prom that I've lucky to be involved with for the past 3 years.

If you want to get your children on board, helping other children with cancer and their families, check out how The Sandbox is helping with the holidays by clicking here.

All Thanksgiving donations are asked to be dropped off at one of their 3 South Charlotte locations by THIS Friday, November 15th.

No time to shop? You can donate a grocery gift card, or donate $80 to feed a family of 4 and The Sandbox volunteers will do the shopping for you!

http://gotsandbox.org/ThanksGIVING/