Habitat for Humanity

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It is never too early to help our children understand the importance of volunteerism and giving back to their community.

Here are some suggestion for activities for youth to become involved in Lawrence County Habitat for Humanity.

Age-appropriate Activities for Youth

Channeling the excitement and energy of youth under age 14 is a creative, challenging and rewarding process. Below are some examples of how youth have been involved with affiliates in the past. These activities have been used with (but are not limited to) individuals, families, school groups, youth clubs, or religious organizations.

Activities:

• Fold newsletters or stuff envelopes for mailings.
• Build birdhouses, flower boxes, key chains or simple picture frames for the program families or volunteers.
• Speak to your schoolmates or your youth group about the mission of Habitat for Humanity and bring along a representative from Lawrence County Habitat for Humanity to talk about their work.
• Educate your peers about the overall picture of poverty housing by taking a tour of a substandard home or apartment. Then, write about your experience and publish one of your reflections in a Newsletter.

With the Program Family

• Gather housewarming items (cleaning supplies, plants, etc.) for the family.
• Decorate pots for houseplants to be given to a partner family.
• Decorate a stone or rock for a partner family's yard.
• Write a prayer or blessing on one of our "angels" to be hung from the rafters of our partner family's home.

Fund Raising

• Have a craft fair or silent auction for items that you make.
• Sponsor a bowl-a-thon.
• Hold a "Hike for Habitat" event.
• Build birdhouses, playhouses, mailboxes, dollhouses, flower boxes, etc., to sell at a fundraising event.
• Sell homemade baked goods and snacks at school, a religious institution, or in your community.
• Challenge your peers at your school or organization to donate money according to their shoe size (for example, size 8=$8).
• Challenge an elementary school to collect pennies for Lawrence County Habitat for Humanity and have each grade present their pennies at an assembly. The group with the most pennies can get a prize like, a pizza party or extra time at recess.
• If you belong to a religious organization, use collection time to collect money for Lawrence County Habitat for Humanity.
• Host a Legos™ house-building competition. Display the houses and have people vote on the best ones by putting money in a jar in front of each house.

Appropriate Activities by Age Group

These age-appropriate activities are broken into general age categories for easy reference. However, many of these ideas will be useful and appropriate for multiple age ranges or can be used in a modified form.

Ages 5-7

• Make a welcome basket for the homeowner family and sing a song at the dedication.
• Stock the pantry for the homeowner family.
• Draw or color greeting cards to be sold at a fund-raiser or design thank you notes to be used for the volunteers.
• Construct house banks for distribution at churches and schools as a fund-raising tool.
• Have a coloring sheet contest and put entries in the local paper with Habitat facts.

Ages 7-10

• Make blocks or bricks that can be used to build homes or as fund-raising items.
• Pick out a special hardback book and donate it to our partner family's children.
• Tour the work site and/or Lawrence County Habitat for Humanity office with your group and learn how we help families.

Ages 10-12

• Prepare a presentation to classmates about the mission of Habitat for Humanity with the help of a local Habitat volunteer.
• Construct and paint flower boxes to be used as housewarming gifts or as fundraising items.
• Prepare a back to school backpack for the partner family's children.

Ages 12-15

• Design a Youth Facebook or MySpace page featuring Lawrence County Habitat for Humanity programs.
• Write an article and publish it in a Newsletter.
• Work with an audio-visual teacher or class to design and produce a Youth video.

Ages 16-17

• Do construction on the work site with other volunteers.
• Help in the ReStore with pricing and labeling, stocking shelves, and assisting customers.
• Talk to a partner family about how Lawrence County Habitat for Humanity has impacted them. Write about their experience and publish one of their reflections in a newsletter or online.
• Organize and serve meals to volunteers on the work site.