HandsOn Action Centers and nonprofit partners kicked off the holiday season with giving and service as they commemorated Family Volunteer Day on Saturday.

Disney Parks sponsored the tenth annual Family Volunteer Day, which is held annually on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

Highlights from this signature day of service around the network:

HandsOn Greater Huntsville gathered families for projects at the public library for a kick-off breakfast and then assigned families to: create holiday greeting cards for Huntsville Hospital patients, walk dogs for Huntsville Animal Services or beautify the grounds of a local group home and decorate it for the holidays.

Volunteer Center of Southwest Michigan, in partnership with the Niles-Buchanan YMCA, contacted several local non-profit organizations and offered a variety of service activities for families, including making blankets and pillowcases for children in shelters and an educational event where families learned how to organize a mini-food drive.

Volunteer Center of the LeHigh Valley encouraged families to self-organize and plan their own service activities for the day.

Family Volunteer Day presented an ideal opportunity to introduce children to volunteerism and engage families in meaningful activities. For more information on volunteering as a family, visit: www.handsonnetwork.org/familyvolunteering