Anonymous wrote:Is your 6-11 year old REALLY going to be able to put in an 8-12 hour day swinging a hammer or sewing or peeling potatoes or picking crops or painting? Will they have the concentration skills for that? Will they have the physical stamina for that?

If not, then their "help" is probably not actually helpful.

And the cost of their flights could be put to better use to pay for or train locals to do the work.

OP, check out Chevy Chase UMC. Once a month the Sunday school kids (all ages) do a service project such as preparing food for the homeless, making centerpieces for seniors in assisted living, etc.

Go watch Avatar op. Take your kids too. That will be a better teaching experience than your bs.

Living in Upper NWDC snd talking about missionary trip … I mean talk about being so devoid of self awareness! Anacosria too scary for you op?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of you making other suggestions to deter OP realize she may already do those things right? Maybe she wants more, and wants to have her kids see and do more?

Deter her? Her kids are too young for the kind of mission she's looking for. In the mean time people have made suggestions.

14:10 made suggestion directly Addressing her stated desire to volunteer abroad with family on vacation but in way that does not harm Local cultures or ecosystems - OP did not bother replying to that - but thanked everyone for local Volunteer ops. So maybe she does not want to see and do more after all.

Another local organization that welcomes help from kids

https://families4families.org/

Anonymous wrote:All of you making other suggestions to deter OP realize she may already do those things right? Maybe she wants more, and wants to have her kids see and do more?

Deter her? Her kids are too young for the kind of mission she's looking for. In the mean time people have made suggestions.

You might be able to bring kids for something like DC snow patrol.

https://servedc.galaxydigital.com/agency/detail/?agency_id=80477

BestBuddies might involve kids as peers to program participants.

Anacostia Watetshed Society does cleanups with families.

Other places to look:
https://tinybeans.com/dc/places-where-you-can-volunteer-with-your-kids-dc/

Kidsthatdogood.com

Volunteermatch.com lets you sort opportunities by age. You could also get involved with scouts, since they have established relationships with charities and offer structured opportunities that might not be available to individuals.

You can ask your priest/pastor if anybody in the congregation needs help. We recently helped an elderly couple at our church who needed help to get their house sale ready. We mowed the lawn, weeded, painted, and hauled donations—all things they physically couldn’t handle but required no special skills.

Enlightened churches are moving away from labor-based mission trips to do trips that bring skills people need and can’t get locally (like tech support, doctors, agribusiness, etc). Nobody wants to be a part of poverty tourism. And doing free labor may prevent locals from earning a living.