Happy Holidays, to whatever your household may celebrate! The holidays are a time to be around family, in whatever shape or form that may be, and a time to reflect on what might be the few weeks before the new year, and ample time to create any sort of new years' resolution!

If you aren't aware already, here I am to inform you about something that typically goes on within the Holiday community. They might be standing right outside your local grocery stores, malls and holiday festivities you partake in, and I feel as if no one really knows the point of the. What I'm talking about is the Salvation Army Red Tins, where you may see locals ringing bells, and gathering crowds around while in their elf or Santa outfits.

Salvation Army, started in the UK in 1865, right in London. As quoted by Salvation Army themselves, they are "The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Salvation_Army

But, sadly there are a few errors in their "preached" mission, and so-called favors they bring "from God", to "the people". First, the organization speaks about "meeting human needs without any sort of discrimination", when in reality that is the complete opposite of what the organization stands for.

Salvation Army has been known for donating tons of money to anti-LQBTQI+ organizations, and have aided to prevent federal money from going to states, and cities, that have anti­-discrimination laws, and Salvation Army Donation committee, even go as far to discriminate against individual's part of the LGBTQI+ community, during moments of crisis and need. They have been known of kicking out same-sex couples from their shelters, and asking one of the parents to leave so they would be able to mark only one of the parents the "legal guardians" of both of their children; leaving the second half of the partnership on the streets or struggling to find their own shelter, which could be up to tens of miles away from their family. Not only is this not in any way shape or form, what the Holidays are about, but they're absolutely not what we should stand for every single day of the year.

So what's the moral of the story? Basically, DO NOT donate to those red tins outside of your local grocery stores!!! But, an important story to remember, is to stay kind to those who are outside working for minimum wage and ringing those bells; it's sad to say that not many are educated and up to date on the horror, this organization holds, so make sure to smile and walk away and stay kind. BUTTTT, if you're looking for an amazing organization(s) to donate to this holiday, I got a few for you!!

Toys for Tots: They provide children in need, with gifts for the Holidays, to remind they, not every day needs to be full of worry!

Red Cross: This is such an amazing organization, and they help those from local, to across the world with disease prevention and cure!

PetSmart Donation: Because who doesn't want to see every shelter pup rescued this holiday season? They provide donations to local shelters, to keep those fluffy creatures healthy and alive!!!

The moral of the story is, RESEARCH AND EDUCATE YOURSELF BEFORE YOU DONATE!!! There are a lot of scams and horrible people, creating such donation bluffs and errors, and we as the people need to educate ourselves to protect others, and ourselves!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!! Enjoy all the good food and warm wishes you can!!!