The holidays are certainly a magical time. Finals are over and everyone gets to go home to relax and celebrate with their loved ones. This time of year seems to be universally known as the giving season, almost always associated with jammed mall parking lots and endless wrapping paper and ribbons. So much thought goes into the perfect presents to give your family members and best friends, yet there are ways to give that go beyond the people you hold close to your hearts. Sometimes it is really easy to give amazing and thoughtful gifts to the people you really care about, but difficult to think of ways to help the causes you really care about. Here are some charities who could use your help this giving season:
1) St. Jude’s is a children’s research hospital that is looking for cards to give to the children patients throughout the holidays! You just have to choose a card on their website and attach a donation (big or small, anything helps) and it will be sent to a patient. It would also make an equally fantastic gift to team up with friends to raise $69 which would fund a St. Jude child’s platelet count test and provide a significant amount of hope to their family!
2) UNICEF is an organization that is aiming to “build a world where every child can grow up healthy, protected from harm and educated, so they can reach their full potential.” UNICEF heavily relies on donations to work toward their goals and a donation to help children internationally would be a really great direction to go in this season! If donating directly on their website isn’t something that interests you, a more creative route involves purchasing one of their holiday cards whose proceeds go towards UNICEF’s efforts!
3) The Salvation Army does more than just jingle bells throughout the city collecting money. The Salvation Army has a bigger mission than many think! They work to support adults and children; they provide funding for adult rehabilitation, veterans affairs services, prison ministries, elderly services, and human trafficking combat efforts, as well as hunger relief for children, youth housing and homeless support, Christmas assistance, youth camps and recreation. If any of these causes are something that interest you, you can find their donation center online as well as in person around any city or town! Look for the famous red buckets and attendants with Santa hats and jingle bells!
4) Women for Women is an organization that proactively takes donations and physically applies the funds to skills and symbolic gifts that will help rebuild women’s lives. Examples of this are literacy training, 30 acres worth of vegetable seeds, a sewing machine, baby chicks and even family planning and protective services. As women, it’s a true privilege to be able to lend a hand in changing another woman’s life for the better. After all, that’s what women should always be doing for each other! Make another woman’s Christmas their best here.
This woman’s name is Regina, read her story about how Women for Women’s has helped her.
5) Wounded Warrior Project is an organization with a primary goal of honoring and empowering the wounded warriors who fought long and hard battles for the country we are so lucky to live in. They aim to raise awareness, help injured veterans and provide specific programs and assistance based on individual service members. It’s always nice to think about the people who served or are currently serving our country, but it is especially nice around the holidays. If you would like to contribute a non-monetary gift, you can consider partnering with Soldiers’ Angels who send holiday cards!
Let us remember to think of others during this very special time of year, everyone should be able to feel the magic of the holiday season!