Updated May 2026
Between all the trips to the pool, late nights, and fun with friends, summer is also the perfect time for giving back to our Houston community. Here are some great ideas and incredible books that will help inspire your children to have charitable hearts this summer.
Giving Back
- Collect the kids’ unused or gently used school supplies from this past year and donate them to a school in need.
- Have a kiddo with a full piggybank and an even fuller heart? Donating to Ronald McDonald House Houston, Ronald McDonald House of Galveston, and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Houston/Galveston is always an option, benefitting ill children.
- Volunteer at Lunches of Love, an organization that provides 4,000 lunches each day. Kids can volunteer to assemble lunches, decorate bags, and even participate in delivery.
- Summer birthday? Consider including a charitable component in your child’s birthday through monetary or item donation for a cause that’s near and dear to your heart.
- Grab your neighbors and have a lunch kit party where you assemble lunches for Kids’ Meals Houston. Super easy for any age and they can also decorate the bags too!
- Put together hygiene kits for BEAR {a resource for CPS kids}. They have chosen the most common personal hygiene items in order to create normalcy and keep each child healthy when transitioning into CPS care. Foster Village Houston also has a similar program.
- Bake cookies to take to your local fire station. {Bonus: they may give your kids a tour of the firehouse while you are there!}
- Host an underwear drive for Undies for Everyone, headquartered right here in Houston.
- Short on change, but still want to help? Create care packages to hand out to people in need on street corners. A gallon bag filled with fresh socks, a snack and a bottle of water can truly help.
- If you have children 17 or older at home with you this summer, consider making a family outing to donate blood. There is always a need blood donations. Find a location near you at the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center.
- Help keep our coastline clean! Galveston Bay Foundation is always looking for teams of volunteers. Sign up for their list of opportunities for giving back here.
- Houston Food Bank is always looking for volunteers at various locales around Houston. Find out more here.
- Star of Hope, an organization that helps support our city’s homeless population, needs your help! They also have opportunities to do an in-kind donation drive as well.
Summer in Houston is all about pool days, road trips, camps, and squeezing in as much family fun as possible. With long, hot days and kids constantly on the move, a little preparation goes a long way.
If a surprise illness, sun‑related issue, or minor injury slows things down, Next Level Urgent Care is open daily from 9am–9pm at locations across Houston and Beaumont — so care is always close by. Families can book through the Next Level app or at their website and get back to making summer memories.
And don’t miss these seasonal highlights:
- Teddy Bear Clinics on June 26 & 27 at select locations — a fun, low‑stress way to help little ones feel comfortable with medical visits
- $10 Sports Physicals now through the end of May, and again for the entire month of August, to get your family ready for camps, school, and fall sports
Summer moves fast — Next Level helps you keep up
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