How to Incorporate Giving Over the Holidays 

The holidays tend to bring out the best in people when in terms of lending their time, money, or assistance to charitable causes. While the world is full of people in need year-round, no time is that more apparent than during the holiday season for giving. For every smiling family curled up around a warm fireplace and a massive pile of presents under the tree, others have no fire, no gifts, and sometimes, even no family or home at all.

Ways of Giving

Of course, we all want to help those in need, and we know the holidays are the season of giving, but they’re also the season of spending. If you’re wondering, “How can I give back this year and get gifts for everyone on my list?” fortunately, there are plenty of ways to help during the holidays that don’t cost a thing. So, whether it’s through donation or action, you can help someone whose spirits might need a little extra lifting this holiday season. If you don’t know where to start, here are some ways.

Sponsor a Family in Need

Many local charities arrange for donors to pair up with disadvantaged families during the holidays so they can help fulfill wish lists for presents, pantry goods, or other items. You’ll typically be given information on clothing sizes, gift ideas, and other details that can make a tremendous difference in a household less fortunate than your own.

Visit a Nursing Home

Despite their communal living situation, residents of senior living facilities can struggle with loneliness and isolation. Those feelings can be compounded during the holidays, which is why many activity directors of nursing homes welcome visits from people in the community. To arrange a date, you can phone the director and see if they’re amenable to children, pets, or other ways of engaging residents. Ideally, you wouldn’t make this a one-off—assisted living locations love to welcome guests regularly to help form friendships with occupants.

Volunteer During Inclement Weather

Homeless shelters and soup kitchens are always in need of a helping hand. When bad weather hits, they can sometimes become overwhelmed by the increased demand for space and food. Local churches will sometimes open overflow centers, and you can contribute to their efforts by lending your assistance. Check with your local housing department to see if your area could use the help.

Giving Blood

The need for blood and platelets never ceases, but it can become stressed when holiday schedules and bad weather reduce the number of donors. To help offset any shortages, consider donating during the holidays. Your contribution could very well be responsible for saving a life.

Donate Clothing in Good Condition

The cold months drive up the need for warm garments among homeless and disadvantaged populations across the country. While it’s commendable to donate any clothing you can, consider throwing in a couple of relatively new items in good condition. A sweater free of holes or jeans that haven’t been worn out could make all the difference for someone who doesn’t have the means to buy them off the rack.

Bless Our Military

Being away from family is never easy, but being stationed overseas during the holidays can be especially difficult. Several organizations arrange for care packages to be forwarded to military personnel serving out of the country. Even a simple greeting card expressing your gratitude for their efforts could make their holiday a happier one.

Deliver a Pet to a New Home

Volunteering at an animal shelter is a compassionate act regardless of the season, but finding homes for their furry residents brings a special kind of holiday cheer. Some animal shelters arrange for families to have their newly adopted pet delivered to their door during the holidays: The animal couriers driving the pets to their new home sometimes dress as elves to make the experience a memorable one. Check with your local animal care representatives to see if there’s an opportunity to participate in your area.

Encourage Someone

Compliment and encourage someone or do something nice for them that they didn’t expect. 
You can invite a lonely neighbor for dinner or lunch to your home to spend time with your family during this holiday season.

Give to Sick Kids

Visit the hospital and give them gifts to children. It’s always sad when sick children have to spend time in the hospital, but it’s especially sad during the holidays when they can’t spend time at home surrounded by loved ones. 

Donate to make a sick child’s wish come true. By donating online, or starting your fundraiser, you can help brighten a sick child’s Christmas by making sure they’re able to spend it with their family (it costs a lot to leave the hospital in critical condition) or see that their hospital room is cheerily decorated for the holidays. 

Provide Presents for Kids Whose Parents are in Prison

When you have parents in prison, it’s hard to guarantee your holidays will be that happy. Will you receive gifts? Will someone show up for you this year? Giving them makes them feel that they are not alone. 

Give Presents to orphaned Kids

Orphans are one group of children that often don’t receive presents during the holidays. (Remember: Many of these kids have been impacted by abuse, neglect, or trauma.) . 

Provide the gift of shelter to homeless youth. Many homeless children will be forced to seek shelter on the streets this Christmas. You can do so by donating to an organization that offers shelters to homeless youth. By doing this, you are giving a gift of hope.

Donate to Those in Need

Donate toys to give to those in need. Every child deserves a gift this holiday season. You can also work with an organization that hosts events that is giving toys to underprivileged children.

Provide helpful shoe boxes to children in need. If you want to provide help for children internationally, Samaritan’s Purse provides shoe boxes full of toys, school supplies, hygiene items, and notes of encouragement to children in need all around the world. Youth in some of the hardest-to-reach countries are provided with a shoebox gift.

Help pack meals for undernourished children. Give the gift of food and nourishment this holiday season by donating to Feed My Starving Children. According to this organization, “volunteers hand-pack scientifically formulated meals for undernourished children,” and they’ve helped ship over two billion meals since starting. You can also donate in a loved one’s name as a Christmas gift.

Give to Natural Disasters causes

Help those who have fallen victim to natural disasters. As the holiday season approaches, remember that there are places that experienced various natural disasters this year and are still recovering from the destruction. You can help make sure their holiday festivities are better by giving which helps families that have been devastated by disaster.

Answer Letters to Santa

Be an elf this season this year, and make a child’s Christmas by “answering” their letter to Santa. Select USPS postal branches keep letters for Santa in a room so volunteers can read the letters and buy Christmas presents for them. Generally, letters written by underprivileged kids are usually chosen. 

Donate to Those in Foster Care

Donate gifts to those in the foster care system. Santa is an online gift registry for Los Angeles children who are in the foster care system. The website allows you to see exactly what specific kids want for Christmas so that you can purchase something, mail it, and make their whole day.

Buy Holiday Cards

Wrap presents for a good cause. Help out this year by wrapping presents for Shared Hope International. This organization works to prevent sex trafficking and restore victims of sex slavery by training first responders to identify sex trafficking warning signs and by raising awareness about child sex slavery in communities through campaigns. You can support Shared Hope International and its mission by wrapping Christmas presents for donors and supporters.

Buy holiday cards that donate money to those in need. Everyone loves a nice Christmas card, so why not buy some that also help give back? When you purchase Christmas cards for your loved ones from Action Aid, money is donated to people in need all around the world.

Donate to a charity in a friend’s Name

If you want to give back this holiday season, consider donating to a charity in a friend’s name. It’s a thoughtful gift for multiple parties: your friend, and whoever receives the material benefits.

Donate to a charity in a friend’s Name

Donate to make a sick child’s wish come true. The Make-A-Wish Foundation raises money to grant wishes for critically ill children. By donating online, or starting your fundraiser, you can help brighten a sick child’s Christmas by making sure they’re able to spend it with their family (it costs a lot to leave the hospital in critical condition) or see that their hospital room is cheerily decorated for the holidays. Instead of asking for gifts this year, you can ask that your loved ones donate to this foundation instead. Help provide gifts for low-income households.

Plan a Community Party

Put up a party in your community to celebrate those who put their lives on duty during this holiday. You can cook meals and get the neighbors to help out to celebrate, firefighters’ policies, emergency responders, etc. Take lunches to people who work during the holidays.

While many people relish the time they get off from work during the holidays, some people don’t get time off. Emergency responders, police officers, firefighters, and even retail workers are stuck working long hours, with little time to see or spend time with loved ones. They practise sacrificial giving all year.

Bring holiday cheer to these folks by bringing them lunches during their work day. Not only are you saving them money, but the gesture itself will make being stuck at work a little better. 

Provide Clean Cooking Conditions to those Struggling

Help provide clean cooking conditions to struggling families. No amount of food means a thing if there’s no way to safely cook said food. They support “the development, sale, distribution, and consistent use of clean cooking solutions that transform lives by improving health, protecting the environment, creating jobs and income opportunities, and helping consumers save time and money.” And through donations from around the world, they can help to do this.

Donate Air Miles

Most everyone knows about the charitable work Make-A-Wish does every year, but through the travel wishes they grant, they need more than 2.8 billion miles or 50,000 round-trip tickets. A simple way you can help out? Donate your miles. If you’ve saved up your air miles, you can donate them to their Wishes in Flight program where they don’t expire and are used to “help grant a life-changing wish experience. “Make a blanket for someone who needs 

Final Thoughts

By doing small acts of kindness or donating money, you’ll be able to provide a sense of warmth and security—a practical and caring gift—to a less fortunate person this winter season. Through charitable acts by those across the country, we can put smiles on more faces this holiday season. After all, this season isn’t about ourselves, but about giving to others.