Holiday charity ideas
I have a question about the holidays. Every year i want to do some sort of charity at Christmas time with my daughter. Shes now 7 and has a huge heart, so i want to do something a little more hands on. We always do toys for tots, she always requests some of her present money be used to buy extra gifts. We donate to animal shelters as well. But this year i think shes at the age where she would want a bit more hands on acts. Like actually handing gifts out to children in hospitals or shelters, or just familues in general. Problem is...i have no idea how to go about this or know of any organizations to look into. Anyone know anything we could do this year? I wanna stay away from soup kitchens til shes older. From previous experiences, ive come across some nasty and scary people. I dont want her to get scared or violated.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Do you have an Angel Tree in
Do you have an Angel Tree in your area? They usually have them in malls. I forget which agency they're for, but they help provide Christmas gifts to underprivileged children. You choose the name of an angel off the tree. Each one has the age of the child, whether it's a boy or girl, and a few things they want, plus their sizes. You shop for the child then drop the gifts off at a designated place. My son has enjoyed doing this.
Or, how about getting the names of some residents at a local nursing home who don't have visitors? You could make a gift basket of things they might enjoy (lotions, slippers, puzzle books, whatever) then bring the basket and spend a few hours visiting around Christmas time? (That could also lead to a positive relationship ofr your daughter with an older person).
Those are just a couple of ideas that I have.
I work for a nonprofit, and I
I work for a nonprofit, and I must say I love parents like you!! Some things that are great this time of year-- have her collect gloves, hats, socks, underwear for a local childrens charity or a domestic violence shelter. Packing food at a food pantry is great (but they usually have age restrictions). Contact your local boys and girls club or YMCA, they usually have children/ toy focused events going on. My kids are picking out toys and we are taking them to the local DV shelter here....
Most of the charities in our town (and we have like 120) do not let you actually SEE the people they serve unless it is in a soup kitchen type setting, but call around. Dialing 211 will give you a listing of all the charities in your area (it is a United Way service)
and I want to add. Christmas
and I want to add. Christmas gifts are fantastic, but these families/ kids still always need essentials. Christmas toys are actually decently easy to come by, so doing something more focused like blankets- clothes- food, they still need that stuff and a lot of people switch their focus. Anyway, just something I felt I needed to add
When I was growing up, from
When I was growing up, from 7-about 13. My family would volunteer at the local homeless shelter. Every year they have dinner on Christmas eve and Christmas day for those in need, and we would help serve the food. I plan on doing this with our little ones, once they are old enough.
Just be aware of the SA
Just be aware of the SA policy wrt LGBT people, if that is important to you. We do not contribute to them as a result.
Same here. I understand
Same here. I understand their charity intentions are in the right place, but we refuse to support organizations with politics and moral clauses different than our own.
Thank you for all the
Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions!
My oldest lives in Philly and
My oldest lives in Philly and tried to find places to volunteer over the holidays. He found that most places were chock full of volunteers - he was not needed. So decided to make sandwiches to hand out to the homeless. Only to find out that is illegal in Philly.
I remember working a holiday
I remember working a holiday dinner one year for the homeless in my early 20's. One of the volunteers I was working with, while thankful for the help, made the comment, "now if only we could get this many people to volunteer every other day of the year ..."
It really resonated with me .. she volunteered with that group often throughout the year and often found them turning homeless people away because they didn't have enough volunteers or donations to support their cause outside of the Christmas season.