How can YOU do some good?
Photo by synaethesia 
It’s T minus 10 days to Christmas. You may not be done with your holiday shopping, but if your house is anything like ours, the Christmas carols play, the fireplace is lit, and the lights on the synthetic tree cast a holiday glow on the whole living room. It’s all very Norman Rockwell. Are you feeling the holiday spirit yet?
Good. Now, with charity and the holiday spirit in mind, think about what you can do for your fellow human beings. If you’re lucky enough to have some extra cash to spread around, consider donating money to a charity (one of my favorites is Doctors Without Borders). No extra cash? How about extra stuff? We all have clothes that have become clutter. Your old coat can have a new life with a person who needs it.
You’ve purged your closet of unused clothes? Great! Let’s move on to the kitchen. Go through your cabinets: Which canned goods did you buy a bunch of because they were on sale? Give half to a food bank. (Apparently, I can’t resist a sale on kidney beans, diced tomatoes, or canned tuna. It seems almost pathological.) Nothing feels better than getting rid of all the excess. I think it’s a great way of really getting into the holiday mood.
Let’s move from the kitchen to the garage. How many boxed-up, gently used toys do you have in there? Last year I found 47 stuffed animals that were languishing, unloved in a box. Send them to a shelter or a hospital where they’ll find kids who will love them. In a separate box, old towels and blankets can be donated to animal shelters and rescues.
Last but not least: How about giving your time? Volunteer at a soup kitchen, the animal shelter, or a food bank. Every year, my knitting group does a charity knitting project. Smaller projects include knitting hats for premature babies at the local hospital. Last year, Save the Children led a donation project called “Caps to the Capital,” where they made the point that something as simple as a hat can drastically decrease infant mortality in the third world. Knitters from all over the country sent hats and letters to in answer to this call. Small gestures like this can add up to make a huge difference.
What can you do to help another person have a happy holiday season?
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Another idea, I was looking on craigslist.org today and I saw MANY pleas for help. Some as simple as the need for fire wood to heat the home. Perhaps finding someone who needs a necessity and giving that to them would also be good.
I started out in January 2008 by purchasing “Avon” products that were on sales or at a discount. I would purchase items that were also 2 for the price of 1. I have items for both men and women. Since December,I have accumulated over $800 in travel-size items,for both men and woman.
My daughter and I wrapped these items,and placed them in separate decorative “Grab-Bags”. On the last day of work,before the holiday,I will have my co-workers take a gift from the grab-bag!. Now everyone at work will recieve a gift from me! (Now!) If there are any left over items,then I will pass those out to the residents who live in the Senior Citizens Apartment building in my neighborhood.(MERRY CHRISTMAS!)
Nope, Economics to depressing and I live 7 hours from my family and friends and that’s depressing too.
Thank you for this. I think people have completely revamped the holiday season and formed it into the season of presents. People charge credit cards and overspend money that they actually don’t have and then say “oh when I win the lottery then I’ll volunteer or sponsor a child!” Volunteering and helping people should be a year round phenomenon and maybe then the world would be more understanding and forgiving.
I think it’s important to remember that there are many reputable charities and foundations out there that desperately need help and support for the holiday season and every month of the year.
My only suggestion is to be wise and not to just donate anywhere and everywhere. I recently ran into a man who gave me a flyer and said how he wanted to add more education for the kids etc… I asked him what organization/charity/foundation he worked for, and after beating around the bush, he finally admitted he was just a graphic designer and those were his flyers. No charitable organization was behind it in any way! Neither was he supporting anyone but his own pocket.
Though they do alot of good, some other more established charities like Worldvision waste alot of money and have a president that makes over $328,000 per year in salary. They also overspend in expensive traditional advertising venues to the public and even sponsors that could easily be spent for the needs children of the world.
Then we have true charitable organizations that are completely volunteer driven like Humanity First which needs all the help and support it can get to help the world in crisis. I highly recommend Humanity First as they don’t have any salaried staff and everyone working for them actually do it because of their kind hearts and not any financial interest.
Either way, I truly hope we will all look beyond our immediate needs and will look at the less fortunate and try our best to help those in need.
All the best.
Thanks (to this blog) for the idea!
I’m seeking a 501c3 Org, who would appreciate a donation. I’m Santa Claus who is planning to serve to my neighborhood’s family Christmas celebrations.
In lieu of CHARGING A FEE, I’m accepting donations to donate to “a random org.”
Thanks for feedback.
HO! – HO! -HO!
Thank you for posting this! I just watched my local news and became quite sad seeing all of the families in need this year.
We do not have extra cash and will barely be able to give our children Christmas this year.
I was upset because I do not have the money or the time to help those in need.
I prayed and asked God to show me what I could do to help. I clicked on the Answers seciton, and saw your blog! Amazing!
Now, I know exactly what I can do!
God bless you and Merry Christmas!
hi i like pie idk
I’m looking for somewhere I can volunteer my time on Christmas. I don’t want to be stuck at home with my parents like any other day. I just really want to do something different, something that will make a difference.
“Be the change you want to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi
If you are interested in making a charity donation, why not buy a charity gift voucher, give the voucher as a present, and the person you give the voucher to can choose which charity gets the money! Go to karmacurrency.com.au.
Christmas is a very sad time for me. Don’t have room for a Christmas tree, don’t have a fireplace, don’t have family that I’m close to, and I have no one to share Christmas traditions with. Family has moved away, passed away, or is not close to one another. BAH HUMBUG. I’m glad some of you have the Christmas spirit. Please pray for those of us who can’t seem to find it…
I think just by being a kinder person, not cutting people off in traffic, offering someone your seat on the subway, or just smiling at someone when they walk by are simple *gifts* that we often overlook. Some people don’t realize the reason for the season is to spread goodwill and cheer, not just for giving material things. The intangible stuff is what some of us really cherish, and we might not necessarily get to say “thank you!”.
I found a site called ChristmasDialer.com that sends out a free call from Santa clause. It’s perfect for the little ones and makes their holiday a memorable one!
i am very new to computers, and i really do enjoy answers’ i have donated coats,food ect. to shelters for women and childrren in need. happy birthday and keep up the good work. happy hollidays
Join your local volunteer fire department. It is a long term commitment which will require training, certifications and in most places some time fund raising. You will be making a difference in people’s lives on the most basic an immediate level directly in your community. Best of all it is not just at Christmas time, it goes on for the rest of your life. The gift that keeps on giving!!!
Not into it and trying really, really, hard. I have 1 daughter married this year doing really well, lives out of state and another who has been ill for over 2 1/2 years now….with no end in sight. I haven’t worked in 2 years since taking care of her which makes things pretty brutal financially on my husband. So, although I know things could be much worse, I’m just feeling very sad and unable to get the whole Christmas thing going. For those of you who can/are…ENJOY!!
Unlike a lot of people, I will be choosing to not act like a jerk. So many people clearly have forgotten the Golden Rule that says to treat other people as you would like them to treat you. So many people are so impatient. Driving: they honk their horn like crazy if you linger for 1 second after the light turns green, follow you closely if you are too slow for them, ignore yield signs and try to race past you, and don’t bother to determine who has the right of way at a stop sign intersection.
You may think whatever you are in such a hurry to do is important, but it is not so important that you have to disrespect others just because you are impatient.
This is wonderful. I see so many websites trying to get you to buy stuff and completely forget the meaning of St. Nikolas’ day. It’s a time when people give and not just take. You are doing many a good deed by just posting this.
There’s always a way to help someone and you don’t have to stop at charities. If there is someone you know who’s finding life hard, send them a smile and help them with their problems if you can. You never know, that might be exactly what they needed.
new year