Family Volunteer Project: Project Night Night Bag Stuffing Drive

As conscientious parents, we look for ways to exemplify positive values to our children but sometimes it can be tricky to find age-appropriate opportunities to put them into practice. Once again, Parent Talk takes the guess work out of it by bringing us Project Night Night, a charitable program perfect for involving little ones in the process of giving, from start to finish.

Project Night Night is a non-profit organization that collects and donates canvas tote bags filled with books, stuffed animals and blankets to homeless children in shelters. Each canvas bag stamped with their precious sheep logo is a perfect backdrop for you and your child to decorate. Together, choose a gently used or new stuffed animal, book and a new blanket (with tags) to fill it after decorating. The most important part of this activity could be the explanation you provide regarding how happy these bags will make their recipients. 

It can be uncomfortable and difficult to know how to address the topic of homelessness with children and depending on their age, you may not feel it is appropriate to be very specific. As is the case with most important topics we want to impress upon our children, turning to literature can help. The following books vary in terms of the age of their intended audience, but a local librarian or teacher may have other recommendations. 

Intended for grades K-4, two children discover a homeless woman living in their neighborhood and learn how easy it can be to make a difference in someone's life.

This book was written for children ages 4 to 8 and is beautifully illustrated and artfully told. It tells the story of a sad by who has no home but finds hope in taking care of geese. The story intertwines real world problems with a mythical and unexpected ending.

Set in Paris, this beautifully illustrated story depicts the unlikely match of a man with no family who ends up helping a mother and her children who are living under a bridge.

Participating in our Project Night Night Bag Stuffing Drive is easy - in fact, Parent Talk invites you to fill bags at home with your family, with your playgroups, preschools, sports teams, girl scout troups - you name it! There are four steps to get involved:

1) RSVP to Jenny at projectnightnight@parenttalk.info by Friday, April 3rd, and indicate how many canvas bags you'd like to reserve and fill. Each bag costs $3.50; checks can be made out to Parent Talk, Inc and delivered when you pick up your empty bags.

2) Stuff your bags for the gender and age (0-12 years) of your choosing. Each completed bag should contain these 3 items: a new or gently used book, a new or gently used stuffed animal, and a new blanket (with tags, please).

3) During the week of April 6th, pick up your empty bags in Needham (location TBA). You and your child(ren) or group may decorate them, stuff them, and prepare them to be sent to a local child in need.

4) Drop off your filled bags by Monday, April 13th in Needham (location TBA) for delivery to local area shelters.

If you have any questions, or would like to volunteer to deliver filled bags to shelters in mid-April, please contact Jenny atprojectnightnight@parenttalk.info