Don't Just Write a Check - Volunteer for the Holidays!

Do you want to make a real difference in the lives of the less fortunate? Tired of just writing a check in order to satisfy your need to help others? Then you should think about taking just a few hours out of the year by volunteering for a holiday meal at your local soup kitchen or city mission.

These places are in dire need of physical help at popular holiday functions such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and July 4^th. All of these charities have different procedures for their meal functions - some host the holiday meal a few days before, some require you to stay the full day and some have two hour shifts. There are many different volunteer positions that you can choose from such as helping to stuff envelopes for meal donation requests, calling the donation list, preparing the entrees or desserts, setting up the tables and chairs, handing out the food, cleaning the kitchen and much more.

Want to get your business involved? You can have a sign up sheet at work to have your whole company go to a holiday event, or have your employer match donations made to these charities.

If you don't have the time to physically volunteer, think about donating things other than money. Most of the charitable contributions and government funding that these charities receive only go to buy the very necessities needed like food, clothing and shelter. The less fortunate need many toiletries that are usually their responsibility to buy such as shampoo, soap, razors, feminine hygiene products, make-up, shaving cream, toothpaste and the like. Take your check and use it to buy these desperately needed items. You can also contact your local mission to see if they have a list of needed items.