Tis the season of giving! With Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, New Years, and all of the above coming around the corner, people are in the holiday spirit. The holidays are about celebrating family, love, religion, and the others around you. While it is always great to receive, there is nothing better than giving back and serving your community to ensure that we are all taken care of. It's the whole notion of "world peace" and how we as communities and people, locally and globally, can achieve this goal. The holidays tend to bring around seasonal depression to those who have nobody to share the happy times with. Those of us who have the time and even just a small bit of resources to give back are here to take care of those less fortunate. So what can you do to give back this season?
1. Ringing bells for the red kettles through the Salvation Army.
This one is pretty obvious and quite easy to get involved with. The red kettles are infamously placed outside of large grocery stores and chain stores to gain monetary donations from passing by shoppers. The bell ringers stand next to the kettle ringing bells and greeting those coming in or out of the store in two hour shifts. If you go to you state or city's local salvation army location or website, you can sign up on a calendar date, time, and location to ring bells and help out your community for the holiday season.
2. Help prep and serve meals to the homeless community.
Places like the Open Door Mission in Omaha and small community pantries or soup kitchens are always in need of volunteers to help prep and serve meals to those who have no where else to go. Preparation of meals usually takes from 2 to 4 hours and serving takes about the same amount of time. These people have no other choice but to reach out for assistance and more times than not they are embarrassed, angry, or depressed that they are in this position. Get out there and be the smiling face and warm personality to show love and support to your community. Extra help is always needed for holiday dinners on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Some places will require a short orientation of the facility and others you can just drop in to help. A Google search will easily help you find local places for you to volunteer.
3. Night watch.
Night watch is something similar to helping out in community shelters and kitchens, but instead you are going out with an organization into the affected communities. Typically, the trips start at sunset and hot meals are served to those who may not come to the shelter or who need resources that are far from the shelter. Hot meals and things like coats and hats are handed out and the shelter or kitchen can provide information about resources available to the community to better help them in their time of need. There is usually about 5 people per truck or bus, whatever vehicle is taken out to the community. Shifts can last anywhere from 2 to 6 hours, depending on when and where you are going.
4. Start a drive at your local school or business.
Your local non-profit facilities are always in need and your community is always in need. Non-perishable food items, diapers and formula, hygiene products, winter gear, and any other basic necessity is forever valued by the facility and the people they serve. All you really need is a cardboard box and some fliers to get the show on the road. Good advertising and getting the word out there, being an advocate for your community, is the best way to max out your donation pool. Adopt-a-family is a more specific way of doing a drive. Through a local agency, you are given a family in your area that has a great need for the holidays and you collect donations of winter gear, food, and Christmas presents the family needs and give them a Christmas they may not have had otherwise.
5. Long term commitment.
The best way to give the gift that keeps on giving is to make your volunteering a long term commitment. These non-profit facilities aren't asking for much. Maybe once a week or once a month is all you can do and that's perfectly okay. Without you, there wouldn't be a place for your community members who need a little extra help to go. There are many things to do in the facilities: prep and serve in the kitchen, stock the warehouse, using your professional medical or trade license to donate your knowledge and help they may not get otherwise, daycare, tutoring, mentoring. The possibilities are endless. If you need more of an incentive, they look great on a resume and can lead to amazing employment positions. Plus, you'll get that warm fuzzy feeling every time you make someone's day a little brighter.
Please consider giving back this year and making a continuous effort to better your community. We all live here and we all must make an effort to make a better place for future generations. Happy Holidays!
