It’s important to me to raise my boys with an understanding of the value of community – and I use that term in a broad sense. I want them to know  they are part of a family (of course), but that they are also a part of their school, their circle of friends, their local community and a global community – and that being in a community means caring for others and using one’s time and talents to help others in the community who are in need.

As such, I try to find ways I can engage my sons (even at 2 and 4) in truly being a part of their community – in ways that involve giving and not just taking.

At 2 years old, one of my sons helped pick up trash at the Newhall Bicycle Co.’s Community Thanksgiving Dinner, and he loved doing it. Both of my sons always notice when trash has been left in the street or at the park and always want to pick it up and throw it away, which I encourage them to do, as long as it is safe to do so.

We’ve also collected food items to donate to Help the Children (one of the local food pantries), and we collected money to donate to No Kid Hungry during Hunger Action Month last September. We’ll take soup or baked goods to neighbors and friends, and we recently visited a nursing home for veterans, which we plan to do again. The residents loved having visitors.

Another way I plan to engage the boys in supporting their community and helping to feed other kids who struggle with hunger is through No Kid Hungry/Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale, something individuals can participate in all year long, but which has a larger focus during April with its official Bake Sale weekend April 11 to 13. Through this national fundraising initiative, individuals across the country host fundraisers in their communities to help end childhood hunger – something that impacts approximately 16 million children in the United States.

I love the idea of a bake-sale fundraiser because it’s a perfect way to engage my little ones, since they love helping me in the kitchen, especially when we’re making cookies and muffins and brownies. (I take key sanitation precautions when baking food with them that we will share with others, so don’t worry. You can eat our goodies.)

If you want to get involved, consider hosting a bake sale at a school, work place, church or other community site or business. Many businesses have made this an annual tradition, hosting bake sales each April, and No Kid Hungry is encouraging offices to get involved April 7 through 11.

May 5 is the official Bake Sale Day for bloggers, and I plan to be involved this year with my little ones. If there’s a local business that would like to host a bake saleanytime in April or early May, please let me know. I know we’re going to do a Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry; I just don’t yet know where we’re going to do it.

If you want to support but are not into hosting a bake sale, I discovered that First Entertainment and Keller Williams Outdoors is hosting a bake sale on April 12 and 13 in Studio City (4061 Laurel Canyon Blvd.), so if you happen to be in that area, pop over and support.

In the meantime, I’m planning and prepping for my bake sale, so please leave a comment telling me what your favorite bake sale item is. When I asked friends and family on Facebook last year, here were the top responses: Ooey-gooey brownies, rice krispie treats, blondies, lemon bars, cookies (especially chocolate chip, nut or M&Ms) and fudge.

If you plan to join in and host a bake sale, let me know that, too The boys and I would love to come by and support it, because if there’s one thing my boys love more than baking cookies, it’s eating them.

For more information, you can visit nokidhungry.org/bake, and please remember that the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry and Help the Children are two wonderful local organizations that do amazing work in the SCV to fight hunger in our local community. You can find out ways to get involved with both organizations by going to their websites, which often feature lists of items they are currently needing.

I truly believe no one should go hungry – especially children. I know supporting my local food pantries as well as national organizations like No Kid Hungry and Feeding America truly makes a difference in the fight against hunger and sets a great example for my children.

I’m looking forward to the chance to make the world just a little bit better, one delicious morsel at a time.

Jennifer Fischer is co-founder of the SCV Film Festival, a mom of two, an independent filmmaker and owner of Think Ten Media Group, whose Generation Arts division offers programs for SCV youth. She writes about her parenting journey on her blog, The Good Long Road. Her commentary is published Saturdays on SCVNews.com.