Amy Potthast, Idealist.org: How I Have Fun and Do Good

The third guest post in my have fun, do good blogger series is by Amy Potthast.  Amy is the Director of Service and Graduate Education Programs at Idealist.org, and lives in Oregon with her husband and two sons.  You can follow her on Twitter, @amypotthast

How do I have fun and do good? — Amy Potthast, Idealist.org

This year, this question is easier to answer than ever.

With a group of mom-friends in St. Johns — my North Portland, Oregon, neighborhood — I've been working this year on a new, all-volunteer mentoring program for local teen parents.

The St. Johns Village Project is a moms-and-tots playgroup that brings together teen moms and adult moms, with all our kids. The idea is for the moms to build friendships that outlast the teen parents's teen years.

We strive to support all moms to succeed in life and parenting, and to build the 40 developmental assets of teen parents and all our kids.

Moms and kids in planning mode

We're hosted by swapnplay, an innovative neighborhood community play space. We're working on becoming a member program of Oregon Mentors.

We’re launching with a Halloween party on Oct. 30th — inviting the teen moms to a pancake breakfast where they can also pick out Halloween costumes for their children to bring home with them.

In the spring, we plan to launch a garden plot in the St. Johns Community Garden where teen dads and other neighborhood dads can have fun growing vegetables together with their kids.

As an intentional by-product of the project, the moms (and dads) involved with planning have grown closer as a community and we only envision having more fun together as we get to know each other, and our kids better during regular playgroup gatherings in the coming year.

If you like this post, you might also like:

• How to Find Your Have Fun, Do Good
• Zen Peacekeeper, Marianne Elliott, Shares How She Has Fun, Does Good
• Leonie Allan of Goddess Guidebook Shares How She Has Fun, Does Good

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