If you’re looking for volunteer opportunities for your family, we’ve compiled a list of local organizations that allow kids to volunteer. We’ve listed age minimums and also have a long list of opportunities open to all ages. There are tips for how to put together your own service project and a list of organizations where you can adopt a child or family to shop for during the holiday season.
Many organizations allow teenagers 16 and older to volunteer by themselves but for younger kids and tweens an adult will need to volunteer alongside them.
Mom Pro Tip: Many of these activities involve shopping for items for those in need. As convenient as online shopping or Target drive-up can be, make a special shopping trip with your kids so they can pick out the items and take real ownership over the service project.
The easiest place to volunteer with younger kids is a local organization called Kindcraft. Each month they have different service projects specifically designed with kids in mind. These service projects directly help local organizations.
Feeding the Hungry in Kansas City
- Prepare and serve meals in various parks in Kansas City every weekend with Free Hot Soup Kansas City (all ages).
- Make and deliver a lasagna with Lasagna Love (all ages).
- Prepare and serve a meal for Ronald McDonald House or put together snack and meal kits for guests (all ages).
- Make sack lunches for ReStart (all ages).
- Prepare and serve a meal or provide baked goods for Kansas City Hospice (all ages). Locations in South KCMO and the Northland. Another option is to put together kid activity bags (all ages).
- Prepare food and serve meals with Nourish KC (ages 10-13).
- Help sort, pack, and distribute food with Harvesters (ages 8+).
- Volunteer with the Catholic Charities Hope Distribution Center (ages 8+), Mobile Food Distribution (ages 12+), and TurnStyles Thrift (ages 10-13).
Volunteering with Animals in Kansas City
Each organization has different opportunities for kids to help based on their age and the program’s guidelines.
- KC Pet Project (ages 7+).
- Wayside Waifs (ages 13-15).
- Great Plains SPCA (ages 13-15).
Helping Other Moms and Kids in Kansas City
- Assemble a birthday box, sponsor a survivor’s room, or decorate the children’s playground with chalk at Safehome (all ages).
- For younger kids, sign up for a family wrap with Happy Bottoms to prepare packs of diapers for families in need. Kids 12 and up can volunteer with a group for a wrapping shift.
- Make happy kits for patients at Children’s Mercy Hospital or become a Junior Champion (all ages).
- Make monthly themed wall art for Kids TLC in Olathe or put together kits for a holiday party (all ages).
Other Kansas City Volunteer Opportunities
- Join a team to help local nonprofits with the Youth Volunteer Corps (ages 11-18).
- Help sort donations at Scraps KC (ages 3+).
- Make food packs or serve a meal with Avenue of Life (ages 3+).
- Sign up for a family friendly service project in the community on the third Saturday of the month through Resurrection Church (all ages).
- Make a birthday party kit or cards of encouragement for clients at Hillcrest Transitional Housing (all ages).
Create Your Own Service Projects for All Ages
- Set up a lemonade stand to raise money for childhood cancer research with Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
- Help your neighbors with yard work or snow removal. The Nextdoor app is a great place to find folks needing this help.
- Find an organization your child connects with and do a donation drive or fundraiser for them.
- Do a bandage drive with Noah’s Bandage Project.
- Go door to door with a grown-up and ask for canned good donations.
- Look around your home and collect old blankets, pillows, and towels to donate to a local animal shelter. Some also take certain kinds of stuffed animals.
- Have your kids go through their books and choose some to donate to one of these local organizations.
- Turn a birthday party into a something bigger. In lieu of gifts, asks party guests to bring something you can donate to a local organization. Some ideas: children’s books, blankets, hats and gloves, diapers, dog food/toys, a jar of peanut butter or canned food.
Holiday Season Opportunities in Kansas City
- Ring the bells for the Salvation Army as a family or with a group of friends (all ages).
- Adopt a family and shop and donate gifts with KVC, Salvation Army, The Family Conservancy, Operation Breakthrough, Hands to Hearts KC, Hillcrest Hope, Johnson County Christmas Bureau, reStart, Foster/Adopt Connect, St. Luke’s Crittenton Children’s Center, and the Metro Lutheran Ministries Christmas Store. Resurrection Church also has a JOY program with various opportunities to help.
