We've been interested in doing more service learning with Jasper. It can be tough to find volunteer opportunities where young children can make a meaningful contribution, and especially tough to find one good for Jasper. At his age, repetitive tasks can make him climb the walls. He was really excited to try planting trees! I checked out the website for
SOLV, an Oregon-wide organization that gets together volunteers to do positive things for the environment. This time of year, with frequent rain you can depend on, is a great time for tree planting. (Other times, there are more opportunities to help with invasive species removal and trash pickups.) So today we headed to Forest Grove to help plant 250 trees and help restore a watershed. This area has been densely infested with invasive reed canarygrass, which chokes out every other plant, and stifles the wetland that would otherwise provide habitat for water loving critters like frogs and newts. It was a very well organized event, with coordinators helping to explain the fine points of tree planting to utter beginners. After trees were carefully planted, biodegradable coffee bags were staked in the ground with biodegradable plastic stakes made from cornstarch, encircling each tree to prevent the canarygrass from choking out the tree before it has a chance to get established. Gardening gloves are provided, but I did not expect them to have gloves in kid's sizes, and brought some for Jasper. Although he was very well bundled up, and had waterproof boots on, he was dismayed to find the mud so thick. (It seems like only yesterday this would have brought him untold joy!) He soon would have no part in planting or coffee bagging. Finally, he figured out a way to help all on his own. He zoomed around, chatting with everyone, collecting empty plastic flowerpots and gathering them together for removal. He was really proud of himself, and the coordinators cheered him on.
The majority of SOLV's volunteer opportunities are child-friendly, but it's always best to email them to confirm a particular event will be a good fit. Some locations may be uncomfortably close to busy roads, and some litter collection efforts occasionally turn up syringes. Another great place to search for volunteer activities in the Portland area is
Hands On Greater Portland, a database where many organizations list events. If you click on "Search Opportunities" and then click on "Display More Options", you will see a box where you can enter a child's age to see what opportunities specifically exist where they will be welcome. I'm always quite surprised to see the variety that are available.
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