Christmas is the most joyous time of year and the perfect time to instill a heart of volunteering in our youth. As an official Joy Maker Ambassador, I would like to challenge you to get your children and teens involved in volunteering and giving this Christmas season to those in need in your local community with the Joy Maker Challenge.
What is The Joy Maker Challenge?
The Joy Maker Challenge is a partnership between generationOn (the youth division of Point of Light) and Hasbro, Inc. for annual campaign to connect kids and teens ages 5-18 to meaningful, hands-on service projects during the holiday season. You can search right now for volunteer opportunities in your community!
Plus, for every kid and teen who volunteers throughout The Joy Maker Challenge, Hasbro will donate a toy or game to Toys for Tots (up to $1 million worth)!
Share your Joy Maker Challenge story on the official website for your chance to win the grand prize $1,000 grant for charity or one of 20 additional $250 grants!
Each week, Hasbro is giving away a pack of 10 Hasbro toys to one Joy Maker Challenge participant to give to their local community!
My Family’s Joy Maker Challenge
My kids and I had an amazing opportunity to spread joy to children in need in Streetsboro, Ohio this weekend!
We were able to donate toys from Hasbro to the Streetsboro Christian Cupboard! Pre-selected regular clients of the food pantry are in for a treat this Christmas with toys like My Little Pony, Transformers, Cookie Monster, Nerf, and games including Monopoly, Simon, and Battleship! This pantry usually can only give food and a few dollar-store toys to their clients at Christmas, so they were very excited to receive the Hasbro toys to give to their clients’ in need!
My kids are 10 and 8 years old, as you can see in the video above, they had a great time hauling in the Hasbro toys for kids in need. They were so excited to think about the kids that would be receiving the gifts this Christmas.
We also stayed a while after the delivery to take a tour of the food pantry and help a little. My kids can’t wait to go back to volunteer and help!
Be a Joy Maker!
From now through December 23, 2015, teens, teachers, youth development professionals and families can sign up or share their stories for The Joy Maker Challenge through the campaign website. This website features service project ideas and downloadable planning tool kits to help you and your kids spread joy to those in need this Christmas season! This includes all kinds of people in need including military service men and women, sick children, seniors, homeless, and others.
I encourage you to search now for volunteer opportunities that your kids and teens can participate in this Christmas season. For the Akron Area, choose from BINGO Night with seniors to Donation sorting for homeless to toy sorting for Toys for Tots, and more.
As of today, 69,298 kids and teens have Volunteered to Spread Joy! Let’s get Akron, Ohio area to flood this map!!
