Disney's Give a Day, Get a Day- Family Volunteering

Disney is offering a new promotion called Give a Day, Get a Day for the first 1 million people who sign up. My family was among the first to sign up on opening day January 1^st. This was before the earthquake in Haiti happened. If we had known an earthquake was going to hit and that millions of people in Haiti would be devastated we would have signed up for a volunteer program that would have helped in some way.

The premise of the promotion is to encourage people to volunteer and by doing so Disney will give you a free voucher to one of the theme parks at Disney World or Disney Land. The promotion is only open to US and Canada residents and certain restrictions do apply.

We had been talking about doing volunteer work with our whole family before we knew about the Give a Day, Get a Day promotion. We were hoping to work with Habitat for Humanity or another hands-on organization. It just happens that we get to go to Disney now as a bonus. Once you sign up through DisneyParks.com, you will get an email from the HandsOn Network. Through the link provided you can list the people of your household who will be participating and use the search tool to find local organizations and charities which need your help.

We found the Lehigh Valley Donation Center in Bethlehem, Pa. Our age group included 2 children and 2 adults. We were unable to do the Habitat for Humanity in the area because neither child was over the age of 12. However, we are going to volunteer with them once the children are old enough. Since we have a six year old and a nine year old we had to find something that they could do.

Our volunteering consisted of gathering blankets, food, sanitary products, water, animal supplies and much more. These products were taken to the donation center and then sorted. Each product would go to an animal shelter, people shelter or food pantry in the local community. All of us had to fill out a survey and the kids made hands for a banner that celebrates MLK Service Day. Each hand carries their name and a sentence about why they liked volunteering their time.

There is still time to sign up through DisneyParks.com to get the Give a Day, Get a Day promotion. If you just want to sign up to volunteer without the Disney bonus, you can check out one of these awesome organizations:

HandsOn Network

Artists for Peace and Justice- A celebrity auction featuring the red carpet wear of Gerard Butler and Meryl Streep will be held to raise money for Haiti.

Wyclef Jean's Blog- Haitian born musician Wyclef Jean is raising funds through the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund on his blog. He asks fans to each donate $5 to the fund.

American Red Cross

The White House- this is a government website which features a video of President Barack Obama and former Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush speaking about Haiti. Information of where to donate and how to help is listed on the website.