It's that time of year when many of us feel as though we should give something back to the world. At least I always feel that way this time of year, whether because of altruism, guilt or just the desire to build up a little good karma, I don't know. One of the problems with being retired in these difficult economic times, however, is that we often don't have a lot of spare money to give. Fortunately there are ways to help other folks have a happier holiday season without giving away a lot of your fixed income.
One thing that my wife and I often do at Christmas time is to give some gifts to the local Blue Santa, Brown Santa, Toys for Tots or similar charities. There are usually collection barrels all over town where you can drop off toys. Sometimes there will be names hanging on a Christmas tree at Wal~mart or similar stores where you can find out what a child, or adult for that matter, would like to have for Christmas. They usually aren't expensive items, so you can buy them at the store and drop them in the collection box. We've discovered that most people like to buy things for babies or smaller kids. Many times the tweens and teens end up getting gifts intended for younger children because fewer people buy for them. So we usually try to buy something for the pre-teen and teen kids instead of the younger ones. Although things for kids of that age can cost a little more, if you look around a bit you can find gifts for pre-teens and teens for around $10 or so.
Another inexpensive way to help someone out for the holidays is to donate non-perishable food items to a local food bank. You don't have to donate $100 worth of groceries to help out. Even $10 worth of canned or boxed non-perishable food items would be a big help. My wife and I have also donated turkeys for Thanksgiving or Christmas. There is a food bank in our area that can handle the storage and distribution and one of the local supermarkets often uses turkeys as a loss leader during the holidays. They might have a sale where you can get a turkey for $1 or so when you buy $30 worth of groceries. When that kind of special is available we will break our grocery shopping up into smaller amounts so that we can get 2 or 3 turkeys for $1 apiece. Then we donate them to the food bank. We have learned, however, that it is best to get unfrozen, smoked turkeys because many people who need the food over the holidays don't have the facilities available to thaw or cook a turkey.
Another thing you can do if you don't have a lot of money to give to help someone out for the holidays is to donate your time. Many organizations need help serving Christmas dinner to the needy and would be glad to have you volunteer your time to prepare or serve a meal. In fact, Meals on Wheels provides the opportunity to volunteer your time throughout the year to ensure that seniors in worse shape than you get a reasonably nutritious meal once a day. I'm sure that the Meals on Wheels operation varies somewhat depending upon whether you are in a large metropolitan area or not. In our little town my wife and I were able to not only help distribute the meals but also to help package them into the carriers that are used to keep them warm while they are being delivered. The Meals on Wheels delivery person may be the only one who looks in on an elderly person on a daily basis, so volunteering to deliver the meals allows you not only to provide a meal for needy seniors, but also to chat with them for a few minutes to make sure that they have some contact with another human being. It also provides the opportunity to make sure that they are OK and haven't become ill or had an accident since the last volunteer looked in on them the previous day.
Other places that will need volunteers during the holiday season include food banks. They will have more applicants during the holiday season than they normally do. So many of them will not only be asking for donations of food, but also volunteers to help handle the applications, receive and sort the contributions of food, match applicants to need and deliver food to the needy.
Organizations which serve Christmas dinner to people in need will require extra volunteers to help with preparing and serving the meals.
Nursing homes and hospice facilities often have Christmas events and usually are in need of extra volunteers to wrap gifts, decorate facilities, help attendees who are not very mobile and even photograph the events.
There are lots of other organizations that provide meals and gifts for the needy at Christmas time. Most of them are understaffed and in need of seasonal volunteers. If you check the web sites of local newspapers or TV stations, you will probably find lists of those organizations which could use some help at this time of year. Lend a hand and help spread some of that Christmas cheer.
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