3 Steps to Find Needs in Your City

Too Busy to Serve?

My current To-Do list

I don't know about you, but I tend to get caught up in checklists and always doing.  I add things to my list and check them off just to feel like I have done "enough" in a day.  It is easy to stay busy in worldly matters (even church matters) and "busy-ed" by many things.  Sometimes I even get a little selfish and lazy and don't do anything (when I have that Saturday with no children's sports, practices, parties, play dates, etc). 

There is a time for Sabbath and rest and rejuvenation in the Lord, but you know the difference in resting in His peace versus sitting on the couch, not taking a shower, watching several movies in a row, letting the kids forge for food in the kitchen, etc.   

God tells us there will always be the poor among us. He commands us to give openly to care for His people. Having a changed heart that I have devoted to following Christ, I can't keep from feeling compassion and being convicted to use my time and talents to serve the poor, the elderly, the orphaned, the lame, etc. Not only am I called to serve others, but I am also setting the example for my children to have that compassion for others. 

"There will always be poor people in the land.  Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land."

Deuteronomy 15:11

Remember from a previous blog post "Finding Your Gifts and Passions", I mentioned that if something is your passion you will find a way to do it in every season of your life (whether in a small way or a big way). Start serving and you will find your passion and the passions of your children.  

3 Steps to Find Needs in Your City

There are many needs in every city, but most people don't know how to find those needs especially ones that are appropriate for your children to come with you and experience serving together. 

1. Through Your Church 

Your church is a great place to start.  Check out your church's website and see if they list ministries they partner with in your community.  Or maybe there are serving events coming up that you can participate in.  Many times these connections will be on a page labeled Serve, Volunteer, Ministries, Missions, Local Missions, Outreach, etc. If your church isn't outward focused, go visit the website of a larger church in your area to find needs.

If they use a platform called Meet The Need * you will see a "shopping" list of specific days, times, and items that you can commit to, to give yourself away. When I searched my church's website I found a list of 104 needs within 15 miles of my home. Some of the needs I found were needing transportation, mentoring, serving food, clothes, toys, bibles, thrift store, and nursing home. 

If your church doesn't use Meet The Need, you will at least get the contact information of a person that can help get you connected to partner community organizations.  Follow up with a phone call, email, or even a visit. It may take more than one attempt to get connected. Be persistent. These ministries many times rely on volunteers' sporadic schedules to help in many functions.     

2. Through a General Search 

A general search on the internet is another good place to find needs in your city (Yahoo, Google, etc).  Search by the key words nursing home, ministry, homeless, thrift store, food pantry, hospital, children's home or whatever your passion is. Simply type the key word and your city, state.  When you call ask the following questions:

• Location? Hours operation?
• Who do they serve and how?
• Do they need volunteers - what for?
• Are there any age restrictions for serving? 
• How many volunteers can they accommodate at a time?
• Can you come to serve one-time or do they only need recurring volunteers?
• Are there any items they need?
• Is there any special training or paperwork required before serving?
• Are they a Christian based ministry? Not that this is a requirement - but good to know so you can gauge how open you can be about sharing your faith.

3. Through Your Daily Activities

Just like everything in life, the best recommendations come from referrals. Why should serving be any different?

• Ask people at your work, school, church, and clubs if they know of any organizations that rely on volunteers.  
• Inquire through your Facebook friends in your area.  
• Look around purposefully on your regular driving route to spot non-profits, church food banks, etc.  

Don't Just Show Up

In all of these methods you will want to connect by phone to inquire about the age restrictions of volunteers. Don't just show up with your children unannounced.  Depending on the area of town, serving activities, the clientele served, etc, you may want to make a site visit prior to serving with your family to see if it is an appropriate place for your children to serve.  Only you can make that discerning decision based on the ages and maturity of your children and the recommendation from the organization you will be serving. 

My boys with their friends
delivering new stuffed animals
to children in the hospital.  

Suggestions: 

• You may need to take the older children to some serving experiences without the younger ones (and vice-versa).  
• Or maybe just take one child at a time so you can actually enjoy the serving experience too.  This is great one-on-one time with your children.  
• For the children that may not be able to serve with you, have them do something ahead of time to take with you.  For instance, if you are going to serve the homeless in a bad area of town at night, you could have the little ones help cook a pan of food or make cards or crafts to give out while you are serving.  
• If appropriate, have your child bring a friend with them.  What better way to make a difference in another child's life by including them in your experience. 

Put Your Faith into Action

I hope these tips have been helpful in getting started to find the needs in our city so you can serve as a family together.  I am gathering the summer serving activities for my family (using he methods above) and I will share that schedule in my upcoming blog posts.  In the meantime . .

• begin your research
• gather your list of options
• start connecting 

We would love to hear about your experiences - please comment so we can learn together and share ideas.

*Note - Tonya Nichols, the author of this blog, is a Director at Meet The Need Ministries. She encourages, supports, consults, and equips church and non-profit leaders across the nation to be more outward focused.