While you’re baking cookies and shopping gifts this holiday season, take time out from all of the celebrations to volunteer together as a family – volunteering is an incredible opportunity to make a difference while creating lasting family traditions!
At holiday time, many organizations fill their volunteer slots quickly after opening sign-ups publicly. Here are some ideas to get you going:
Food Drives and Soup Kitchens
Food banks and soup kitchens are always in need of our support. At holiday time, however, their donations often increase dramatically.
Food Bank of NYC, one of New York City’s primary hunger-relief organizations, offers various volunteer opportunities. You can help distribute Thanksgiving turkeys or prepare holiday meals at various locations throughout all five boroughs – there’s always something exciting going on at Food Bank!
Other volunteering ideas to feed the hungry:
Create a Soup Drive – By collecting canned goods or non-perishables such as shampoo and conditioner, organizing a soup drive is an easy way to make an impactful difference. In addition, hygiene drives provide homeless shelters or women’s shelters with needed items such as soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes for donation.
Spread Random Acts of Kindness – Do something nice for someone today – be it buying their coffee, paying for their drive-thru order or giving candy canes with motivational notes to strangers – simply do something kind – even something small can have an enormously positive effect on someone in need! Even simple gestures of kindness can have a great impact at times when we need it the most!
Toy Drives
Toy drives can make the holiday season brighter for children who might otherwise go without. Gather donations early, and distribute them before the holidays arrive. Or host a gift-wrapping party where volunteers help wrap toys for those less fortunate – sharing in the joy of giving with children in need!
Make your toy drive a success by sharing engaging messages and visuals that strike a chord with donors. Setting goals can encourage donors to meet or surpass them; tracking progress online using a goal thermometer shows your supporters their contributions are making a difference.
Toy drives can benefit children all year-round, but during the holidays their impact can be even more profound. Consider tailoring the age groups you target so your donors know exactly which items will meet children’s needs this holiday season.
Adopt-A-Family
Families coping with childhood cancer or other serious childhood illness experience financial strain and emotional hardship during the holidays, but programs like Adopt-a-Family can offer invaluable help during this difficult time.
Social services charities will connect donors – individuals, groups of friends, schools and businesses – with families in need of Christmas assistance, who will anonymously provide gifts tailored specifically to the family(ies).
Once the gifts have been purchased and wrapped, sponsors drop them off during an agreed-upon time frame. Most programs provide an identification slip or slips attached to each present for identification and tax purposes; families receiving them during this timeframe will experience hope and love that there are people caring for them during a difficult time in their life. It is an uplifting project which will warm both donors and recipients equally!
Helping Out at a Shelter
Many local shelters will need extra hands during the holidays to cook meals, pass out food packages and serve holiday treats to families that might otherwise dread attending family gatherings. This provides an invaluable opportunity to bring joyous cheer into homes that might otherwise struggle to celebrate family get-togethers.
Volunteers can collect and donate items needed by women’s and children’s shelters during winter, including hygiene products and school supplies. Their efforts will make a difference to families in need.
Help make a difference by visiting your local animal shelter and volunteering to wash, play with, and brush pets for those in need. Your efforts may not be as visible, but they still have an enormous effect on both animals’ lives as well as on those who care for them – these heartwarming experiences will remain memories for a lifetime!