Help your teens give back a little during this time of thanks with LA Food Bank

When I was a teen my mother stressed, involved us in and made us aware of the importance of philanthropy namely community involvement. I was a certified coach for our local Special Olympics. I cleaned out my room and donated unused items to charities twice a year. She made sure I set aside a portion of my allowance to purchase toys for our local Toys for Tots program. I even helped package food items and clothing for the people in our community in need among many other opportunities. My mom made sure my brother and I filled our lives with activities that helped others giving back to our community. And for this I'm eternally grateful because I truly feel even as a grumpy, self-centered teen these opportunities held a truly special place in my heart and really filled me up with such overwhelming feelings of goodness enriching those icky, tough teen years so much more for me. And this is something I've carried into my adulthood. I firmly believe we actively need to provide our children from a very early age with charitable opportunities and no time is this ever more important than during those teen years when our children are transforming into the adults they are going to become. And what better way to get the ball rolling than at Thanksgiving time when so many events pop up that you can actually take a pick.

That's where the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank whose mission is "to mobilize resources to fight hunger in our community" comes in and saves the day. Coming up this month are many events perfect for teens 14 and up to get in there and lend a hand. To begin check out the food bank's many LA Fights Hunger volunteer opportunities and upcoming events. Their upcoming Pre-Thanksgiving Food Drive Sort-A-Thon event taking place Monday, November 24 through Wednesday, November 26th and sounds like a great example of something simple you can do with your teen to ease him into the spirit of volunteering.

"During the holiday season the Foodbank recives millions of lbs of food donations from the community. We need volunteers to help pack, sort, clean, & label food packages that go needy individuals and families. Volunteers are needed to sort food drive donations or make food packages for needy families, individuals, children, and seniors in our community. Minimum age requirement is 14 (sorry, no exceptions)."

Make sure to RSVP fast for a shift by checking out the LA Fights Hunger volunteer opportunities site for response information as I think these slots fill at a rapid pace. If you can't make it to one of the many shifts have your teen checkout the site anyways and perhaps he might be moved to use some of that allowance money he was going to spend on a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos and an iPhone app. on supporting the cause. For every dollar you donate they distribute $5 worth of food and product. Plus how cool will your teen look when he joins their Facebook group and starts his very own "Virtual Food Drive?" What a great way to fill your teen with some pre-Thanksgiving warm-fuzzies before he stuffs himself with turkey.

Link: LA Food Bank Volunteer Opportunities