This holiday season, many families are feeling stretched. Budgets are tight and life feels heavy. But there is a quiet evolution happening across the country. More Americans are discovering that generosity speaks many languages. According to the Johnson Center for Philanthropy’s 2025 Trends Report, nonprofits are creating new pathways for people to give through service, mentorship and in-kind support. These opportunities complement traditional philanthropy and together they are making giving more accessible than ever.
For us, this evolution makes perfect sense. As mothers, some of the most meaningful gifts we offer are gifts of time. The late-night talks. The extra minutes before bed. The moments when our children need comfort or guidance. Time is how we teach our children who we are.
Service works the same way. It connects us. It heals loneliness. It invites us into something larger than ourselves. And it has always been at the heart of our families.
Through Realize the Dream, the movement led by the King family, we are calling on Americans to join in reaching 100 million community service hours by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 100th birthday in 2029. Not for the sake of a number, but for what those hours teach us and our children about love in action. The Curry family serves as Chief Dream Ambassadors of Realize the Dream and is committed to helping lead that charge, not only publicly but also at home, where they are contributing to this 100-million-hour goal alongside communities across the country.
We have witnessed this power through Eat. Learn. Play., the foundation Ayesha co-founded with her husband, Stephen Curry. Across the city, volunteers have transformed schoolyards into places where children can play, learn and dream. Earlier this fall, more than 300 volunteers came together to transform MLK Jr. Elementary School’s schoolyard in Oakland. Together, we turned cracked asphalt and aging equipment into a vibrant, kid-designed space with new play structures, sport courts, murals, gardens and outdoor learning areas. In one day, families, teachers, neighbors and partners logged more than 1,200 volunteer hours, creating a schoolyard now used daily by over 400 students. Across the broader schoolyard initiative, nearly 5,000 volunteers have helped remodel 23 schoolyards in recent years and this community will remain essential until every child in Oakland has the schoolyard they deserve.
Parents told us their children could not wait to arrive at school the next morning. Teachers shared that students began playing together across grades in ways they had not seen before. When families show up to paint, plant and build, they create more than beautiful spaces. They create belonging.
Collective giving movements prove that people are hungry for connection. More than three hundred and seventy thousand Americans have already contributed over three billion dollars by pooling resources, time and skills. People want to serve. They want to give in ways that feel personal and immediate.
Service does not need to be elaborate. You can read with your child at the library. You can help a neighbor. You can serve food at a local shelter. You can donate a toy as a family. You can mentor a teenager who needs encouragement. You can support an organization whose mission moves you.
The beauty of this moment is that giving is expanding, not replacing. Financial contributions remain essential to sustaining the work. Service brings that work to life. Together they create something more powerful than either could alone.
Your children are watching. They will remember not just what you said about kindness, but how you practiced it.
This Giving Tuesday, we hope mothers especially feel empowered to give in the ways they know best. Through presence. Through compassion. Through the support they can offer. Through small acts of care that quietly shape the world.
Time is a gift every family has. And when we give it freely, we create a culture of service that will carry our children far beyond this season.
courtesy of Arndrea Waters King and Ayesha Curry
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