Each weekend, we feature one B who’s making a difference in her community. We wonder: how can we give back, especially when money is short? When we feel so overburdened ourselves, how can we find the energy/time/resources to help others? With these questions in mind, we bring you examples of women who find creative, meaningful ways to give. Click ‘comments’ above and tell us what you do! You might be featured here as an inspiration next Saturday.
Today’s Queen B of Giving Back is Petra Cochran of Houston, Texas. She’s part of a fantastic mother’s group. These B’s do more with their mommy group than complain about lack of sleep. Don’t get us wrong: every mother has the right to complain all she wants about lack of sleep! But this group does much more.
Here’s Petra’s message:
Our Mommy group does a service project a couple of times a month. We go and visit the senior assisted living/ respite care facility in our area and visit with the seniors. Our kids love it and the 
seniors do as well. It is a very rewarding outing every other week.
We are a group of 32 moms with kids, mostly three and under. We have one organizer and three assistant organizers. We try to do a couple of events/activities a week, and the Senior Visitation is our only repeat event every other week. We started going last summer and really enjoyed it. I contacted the Senior Living center and asked the activities director what she thought and she liked the idea. We have been going ever since. We try to limit it to 6 Moms with kids because we do not want to make the senior crazy with a whole group of screaming kiddos. Even though they would probably love it. Sometimes we bring books to read, colors, or a game. Mostly we just sit and visit. We also do a “walk through, “a very short visit to the respite care residents mostly Alzheimer residents.
Thanks for writing in, Petra. This is a simple, achievable, thrifty idea we’re sure brings lots of joy to everyone involved.
i volunteer at a children’s shelter teaching art on the weekends. I bring my two girls (ages 6 and 10) and now my husband comes too. we go every other Saturday. the kids range in age from 12-18. some are working to go back to their biological home while others are up for adoption. however we all know how hard it is for a teenager to be adopted. the shelter is also a SAFE PLACE for runaways and sometimes the kids that come in are runaways from other states. this shelter works REALLY hard at reuniting the children with their families as long as it is safe for the children. the staff at this shelter are really the parents of these children, as well as the mentors that volunteer their time every week. we love going and some of the children have been there since I started teaching. some of the things we have done include – soap, candles, frames, lots of painting, paper mache, shaving cream art, origami, Xmas crafts, paper making….i usually ask the kids what they want and try to accommodate them. as a family we have also cooked meals with the children, played board games and just hung out. my children love going to the shelter as much as my DH and I do. we would strongly encourage families to volunteer together if possible…the benefits are priceless.
I have always been good with kids, worked my way through day care, my dream is to some day run/own one. I have a very small budget being a single mother of three kids. My mom started doing foster care about 14 years ago. Seeing the differance in these kids inspired me. I am now a licensed foster parent in the state of Alaska. With and emergency placement tag. so when a kid is pulled out of a dangerous situation they can place the child here (with no more than an hours notice to prepare for them) I happen to be in the process of adopting one of them right now. But as far as giving back, I do not see a greater joy in the world than knowing if even for a short time you made a difference in a childs life. Knowing that you helped show them that things can be better and that they can feel safe and loved and deserve to feel that. You helped give them that second chance. There are soo many kids out there that need the chance to make it in this world.It is some of the hardest work I have dver done, but the most rewading too.