HOW DO YOU TEACH YOUR CHILDREN ABOUT THE WORLD’S PROBLEMS? Teaching children to understand the issues of need in our world seems like an overwhelming topic. As our children grew, we were able to participate in ‘hands on” projects here in our local community. The nights where we serve dinner at a recovery facility have become pivotal to our family discussions. Often when we get in the car – hot and messy from cooking and serving the meal – a question will rise from the backseat about someone they have met or a situation they had never realized was possible.

I’ll admit that those discussions are on the reasons I keep coming back to the commitment we’ve made with our small group. That and the fact that I get to look broken people in the eye and understand how we are all broken at some point in our life. I like doing something concrete and palpable on a regular basis. We don’t do it perfectly, but we do get involved. That’s half the battle – making a construbite to participate and then following through.

Recently I was asked to join the Clever Girls Collective campaign for Members Unite, in part because of our family involvement in community service. After doing my research I thought this was a great opportunity to share a bit of the concept with you. The concept of world need is not new, but the way information has been gathered to build a group consensus on projects is sincerely fresh and new. It’s based on these steps:

Each month a collection of projects…really well run, well developed ideas…are loaded onto the Members Unite site. You choose the site which has the greatest meaning to your family. The project your family decides can help in their eyes. Behind each topic are links, resources, and personal stories which help you understand and explain the concepts and intention of each project.

So I’ve signed up our family for the first month. ($5 plus the yearly admin fee of $25 / 100% of the donation goes to the chosen project and the admin fee covers all other costs involved for the organizers.) William stood by my side as we discussed the process. Initially he may have been waiting for me to finish so he could log onto a favorite game…but then he became involved in the ideas presented on the site. William is a big strong athlete, but he has a heart of gold. He smiles at babies and bends down to pet everyone’s dog. When we serve at The Extension, he sits at a table with strangers and asks what kind of job they are working. And now…he’s concerned about providing service dogs for returning military members which need support for mental and physical effects of the deployments which happened 7000+ miles away.

William moved me aside and began to read through each project. In the end he felt a pull towards the needs of our returning soldiers. We’ve watched as our military friends have had service dogs trained in their honor, so perhaps that swayed him. Now we wait and see what the crowdsourcing of everyone else’s money will influence. We’ll have our answer within the month. The goal is to have $5000 to donate to the chosen cause each month. It’s a do-able goal done together.

There are “lobbies” where you can discuss the projects with others or lobby for their support. You are allowed to give ratings to all the projects listed and offer comments to have your voice heard. In addition there are opportunities to offer ideas for next month’s projects. I love the involvement level despite the fact we are online, we are drawn into the details of serving. If you decide to join, please leave me a comment below so I know.

Members Unite is a great opportunity to donate to bigger causes…but even more important, it’s an opportunity to speak with your kids about helping others. Kindness is something this world could use more. Taking actions like these make good things happen. Let me know what you think about Members Unite.

 

About Members Unite:
Members Unite is a simple, interactive, fun way to fund amazing projects. We find the most interesting, impactful, meaningful projects and then let our members figure out which ones get funded. This is possible because the projects are funded through member contributions. And the members ultimately control the outcome each month. We’re all in this together. There’s a saying we love… One person giving $20 is a drop in the ocean. One thousand people giving $20 brings clean water to a village for a lifetime. Members Unite helps us all do more than we could do on our own.

As part of the Members Unite blog team I have been compensated to review their ideas and try the program with my family. I always speak my mind and you can be guaranteed that I will only write the truth here on Mundane Magic.