The Subscription Box That Teaches Kids to Do Good

What is a liberal, atheist parent to do if you want to raise volunteers?

Like all fathers, what I want for Father’s Day is to be lied to. I want my 12-year-old son, Laszlo, to make me a card telling me that I instilled values in him. Preferably with a drawing of me doing something noble, such as solving the conflict in the Middle East, though I’m not exactly sure how he’d draw that. I’m also not sure how I would have instilled those values. One of the main things I failed to instill in him is the habit of volunteering. I have been told that many people do this through organized religion, often by joining a church. Unfortunately, we are liberal, atheist cosmopolitans. We’re the kind of people who occasionally go to a protest, discover that it’s crowded, head home, stop at a new place for vegan tacos and feel good about ourselves, but not quite as good as we wanted to. What Laszlo and I need for help on the spirituality front, Jessica Jackley believes, is the same thing that helped us acquire beauty products, shaving supplies, underwear and our inability to measure our own recipe ingredients: a subscription box.