How do "you" help this season?

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Permalink Reply by Athena K. Delmontie on December 13, 2008 at 6:00am

So, I avoid donating to orgs like "Feed the Children," not because I don't care, but I don't like the massive amounts of letters and request I receive from other orgs, once I make the list. However, many supermarkets allow one to purchase a bag of groceries to donate to the local family's. I buy one when ever I can. Our local schools also have something called the Back Pack Buddies. These back packs are given to the children in the school who probably won't get much to eat over the weekend. Business owners set up a box to collect foods from various people and then give it to the schools for the back packs. I haven't had a physcial shop (I will in 2009, a kiosk is Raleigh, NC), so I've picked up the box and filled it myself. $80 equals 5 bottles of wine for me; or a bunch of kids with something to eat over the weekend:)

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Permalink Reply by geekmom on December 13, 2008 at 9:02am

I haven't seen anyone mention this but if your family likes to donate toys to local charities for lower-income kids, you can actually volunteer for that charity. I'm doing this for the second year in a row. The charity gives me a list of locations that have set up an "angel tree" with names and ages of kids that need a gift, and in the two weeks leading up to christmas I drive around and pick up all the donations. I drop the toys off at the "toy room" where everything is sorted and then put on display for the needy parents who will be coming by to choose a few items for their kids. It's really quite moving to see the generosity of people who've given so much to a child they don't even know.

When I drop off the toys at the toyroom I always ask what they're most in need of and go out and buy items specifically for that age group. Last year, someone broke into the toy room and stole all the cosmetics and personal care items that had been donated already for teen girls. (Can you imagine being so desperate that you'd steal Christmas presents from poor kids??) so my daughter and I went out and bought a bunch of those. This year they tell me they need more items for adolescent boys and 6-12 mo old infants so we'll have some fun buying those things this weekend. So even if you don't have time to volunteer for your local charity you can always call to ask what types of items they're short of, so that you can make sure your donation will be the most help possible.

I should add that one year when my daughter was a baby we were actually helped by a similar charity. My husband had been laid off from his job and we were very young and extremely broke. We had a 'parent helper' from the Parents as Teachers program who was coming into our home every month, and she secretly nominated us to be one of two families that were sponsored by a local software company that Christmas. We got toys and clothes for my daughter, a few household items and some non-perishable food. The help we got that year has been repaid every year, starting as soon as we could afford it.

PS Athena I hear you about the annoying mailouts from charities. In the past year we've given small amounts to our local YWCA and to Unicef, and they've sent us so much stuff in the mail (and even had telemarketers call us!) that I think they've already spent our entire donation in trying to get more money out of us :-( We are having a better experience with our child sponsorship through SOS Children's Villages, as they tend to communicate mostly through email.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Cain on December 15, 2008 at 11:05am

The outpouring of generosity goes on and on with you "moms". I am so glad that I started this discussion and even happier to get all the responses. Again, thank you so much for taking the time to respond. Everyone does whatever they can, and that's the point here right! There are so many good ideas that I will take with me, not just for this holiday season, but for other holidays seasons and also year round. Many things I hadn't thought of! Great group you all are!

Have a blessed holiday season!

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Permalink Reply by Tamara Putvin on December 16, 2008 at 12:42pm

Hi Lisa,

What a great question. I love giving so I do it all year.. For Christmas I always choose one cause and go for it, make it big, and try to spread the joy of sharing by inviting anyone and everyone to join me. This year I've taken almost $1200.00 created gift baskets and Started a fundraiser to help two families from losing their homes.

Check it out feel free to help. We only have three days left.. http://sassysistersinsales.blogspot.com/2008/12/sassy-sisters-helpi...

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Permalink Reply by Val on December 17, 2008 at 1:12am

Hubby has already bought for some from the fire department Christmas tree, but he did that without me and it has given me no pleasure from helping. Tomorrow I am calling some of our local senior homes and seeing if there are any items they know some forgotten seniors would like. I can still remember going to visit my step-grandma and how all the lonely seniors would perk up and love us visiting. I come from a long long of talkers, I've been thinking lately I need to go work at a seniors home, just because I want to talk and learn from them.

The kids would have fun with this since they could make pics to go with any presents we take. I just feel to bad for how many of these seniors are dropped off and ignored once they get there. :(

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