As the Executive Director of a non-profit providing services to human trafficking survivors even I need a little nudge here and there. This weekend I took clothing to a local inner city church for part of their Community Dinner and as I spent the day helping community members, many just in search of something warm, others a hot meal and a friend to talk to…I was soon taken back to the real meaning of the season. I had been rushing and rushing all season to just get what I needed done, and yes while I do help those in need on a daily basis, the spirit of the season it’s self had begun to slip me by. Thankfully it got me back to the memories of the true meaning of the holiday. When I was younger we used to adopt a family and I remember begging to be one of the chosen ones to help deliver all the food clothing and gifts…the joy on the face of the families when we’d pull up with a full truck load with everything from the yams to the child’s biggest toy wish. That memory and many others, such as the year my father asked all of his employees at his wood-shop to give up there holiday popcorn tins so that he could buy turkey’s for the local soup kitchen, who’s truck of turkey’s had been robed. As I child I loved trying to over-fill my little milk carton with coins to send to Africa for needy children and each day I got excited if I could steal quarters off my Dad to add to all my pennies. Or how I would dash as fast as I could to the back of the church on the day the put the angles on the tree in search of the boy or girl that I could find the perfect gift for…it really was the best part of the holidays yet how quickly we forget.
You can start the true holiday spirit right at home…you probably don’t even have to look that far.
- Take a child who’s mother or father are serving over seas out for a special day – Maybe its just tossing the old football around with the boy across the street who’s dad is deployed in Iraq.
- Help serve meals at a local shelter or food kitchen – and why not take it a step further and collect small gifts; toys, scarfs, etc. to pass out to everyone.
- Offer a homeless family a hotel room for Christmas
- Pass out gift certificates to local eateries and clothing shops to those in need.
- Visit a hospice, nursing home, Veterans hospital, or hospital and visit with those who are unable to make it home for the holidays.
- Read Christmas stories and pass out gifts at a local hospitals children’s ward
- Adopt a family for the holidays with your family, friends or office and ensure they have all the gifts, necessities, and holiday fixings they both need and deserve.
- Collect canned goods and other food items to help stock the local food bank as this crucial time of year.
- Hold a coat or clothing drive at your office for the homeless and those in need – speak to local shelters or churches to help you distribute.
Not sure where to look? Call local shelters, food banks, and churches to see where they have a need or if they can put you in touch with an individual or family in need this season. Contact a local charity and see what you can do to help this season…the list will be endless and you will surely find the spirit and joy of the season are much better than the stress and chase for the perfect gift.
Here are a few things you may want to add to your Global Wish List this year:
- Free a child from slavery
- Give a child an education
- Provide water to a village of children
- Provide a child with the gift of sight
- Give a child a month of nutritious meals
- Provide a sick child with a life saving operation
- Vaccinate a child against diseases like Polio
- Buy a family a goat
- Adopt a family in need and see that the kids get gifts this year
Here are a few charities that may help get you started:
- Angel Wish
- The Dream Factory
- The Ronald McDonald House
- Save the Children Wish List
- Free the Slaves
- Save the Children
- Children in Need
- UNICEF
- Sight Savers
- Give the Gift of Sight
- Heifer International
- World Vision
- BBC Children in Need
- Mercy Corps
- Toys for Tots
- Red Cross
- My Two Font Teeth
- Salvation Army International
- Water Aid
- Big Brothers and Sisters International
- Give Kids the World
- Make a Child Smile
- Samaritans Purse – Operation Christmas Smile
Please note this is only a small list of charities and organizations that will help you to directly help a child in need, but remember the child in need may be closer than you think. You do not have to have money to make a child’s wish come true, time is a wonderful gift. Remember the child down the street who lives with only an elderly grandparent, the children in need of foster care, the boy down the street who is desperately trying to learn a sport but his single mother doesn’t know how to teach him, the family who this year hasn’t enough to buy presents for their children, etc… The list of possibilities goes on and on, and so do the children in need.