Happy Monday Fam,

Today’s post is dedicated to giving back. I know I have written about this before but it is getting cold outside and it’s time to take action (if you already haven’t of course)

Ok so here is the deal…

I think it is great if you can donate money to charities but I think it is also great when you can hit the pavement yourself if you have some time. If you don’t have the time or actually never volunteer I am not saying you are a bad person because most of us help the friends and family in our lives all the time and trust me that is still giving back. But if you can make a little time this holiday season for those you don’t know then great!

The reason I think that face to face interactions with the homeless are really important is because if you think about it not only are these people homeless, foodless, poor etc but many of them feel invisible. And if there is one thing that can light up someone’s day it’s knowing that someone really cares.

Who knows how these people got into these unfortunate situations but it doesn’t really matter because the bottom line is that they don’t have any of the luxuries that we do. No shower, No access to water, No bathroom, No clean clothes, No Food and the list goes on…. ?

Helping others really puts you in the holiday spirit and reminds you of the true meaning of the holiday.

Service Comes In Many Forms…

A LITTLE MORE PERSONAL…

• Spend some time with a friend who just needs a shoulder to lean on
• Offer to shovel an elderly neighbor’s driveway
• Make little handmade gifts or greeting cards for sick children
• Spend a little “mentoring” time with someone younger in your family

BY YOURSELF OR IN A GROUP…

Here are just some volunteer activities you can due this holiday season:

• Serve at a soup kitchen
• Teach a homeless person a new skill to help them get a job
• Make a list of homeless shelters and food banks etc in your area and print it out on little sheets of paper and give one to every homeless person you see
• Buy canned goods and other nonperishable items and deliver them to a food bank.
• Purchase band aids or first aid kits to give to the homeless
• Donate a creative gift or baked goods to a fundraiser
• Adopt a family this Christmas and give them each one gift
• Provide warm coats, blankets and clothes for people in need
• Help wrap gifts that have been donated to shelters
• Order an extra meal to go when you eat out and offer it to a homeless person on your way home

DONATE MONEY…

There are a plethora of organizations you could donate to but here are a few…

• Homeless Shelters
• Children’s Orphanages
• The Salvation Army
• MyTwoFrontTeeth.org an organization that fulfills children’s Christmas wishes
• Angel Tree an organization that serves children with incarcerated parents

Me and Breena B (My Roomy) want to take action so we are collecting blankets, gloves, coats, hats, and scarves. We live in Brooklyn so if you want to meet up with us to donate anything we would really appreciate it. We would like to have all items by November 13th because we are handing them out before Thanksgiving

PS. If you already volunteer or you are thinking about starting please share your thoughts ideas, links to organizations etc

Xoxo
Ally

Tags: Charity, Donations, Giving back, Holidays, Shelters, Soup Kitchen, Volunteering

This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 5:42 pm and is filed under SHE is Uplifting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.