Eight Great Ways to Help Others on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for everything that you have. People give thanks for having a roof over their head, clothes on their back and food on their table. But how about the people who don't have a roof over their head, clothes on their back or food on their table. There are several people out there who aren't as lucky as us. That is why Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday to help people who are less fortunate than us. The tradition of Thanksgiving is people coming together once a year to give thanks to the Lord. The love for one another makes us want to help people who don't have that kind of love in their lives. There are so many charitable things you can do for other people on Thanksgiving.

There are several ways you can donate your time, money, and body to helping others. The first way is organizing your own food drive. You can get everybody in your neighbor to help. Try to set a goal of filling a certain amount grocery bags with non-perishable food items. Once you fill up the bags, you can donate the food to a local food bank. They will appreciate the time and effort you and your neighbor put into the food drive.

If you don't have the time to donate food, then you can always donate money to a local food bank. The money you donate at a food bank can go towards things that they really need now. Many food banks will allow you to donate money to them online. The largest food bank in America is Second Harvest which is now called Feeding America. They state that every dollar you donate provides 20 pounds of food and grocery products. To donate today go to www.feedingamerica.org.

Many people like to help one person at a time. If you are one of those people, then you might want to consider adopting a family member. Adopt someone you know who doesn't have a family or who will be spending Thanksgiving alone. You can ask them to join your family and activities. Treat them like they are part of the family. You can even let them take leftovers home with them. The person will be forever grateful of your kindness and generosity.

The price of food is going up. It seems like each day the prices change. Some people might not be able to buy a turkey this year for Thanksgiving. If you want to help the less fortunate people, you can start by buying a turkey for a family who can't. Especially, if you are spending Thanksgiving by yourself. You can offer to buy a turkey for a low income family, and spend Thanksgiving with them. It's a great way to get to know your neighbors.

Everybody should donate blood, especially during the holidays. According to the Red Cross, only 5 percent of the population gives blood. So instead of shopping or watching holiday movies, you can gather your family to give blood because every 2 seconds somebody needs blood. That somebody could be you one day. So this Thanksgiving, be thankful that it is not. Show that you are thankful by donating blood.

If you don't have the money to donate to charities or food banks, you can always volunteer. You can volunteer at your local food bank, soup kitchen, or homeless shelter. These places need volunteers, so there will always be a job for you. They will especially need your help on Thanksgiving day. Thanksgiving day and Christmas day are the business days for a food bank, soup kitchen, and homeless shelter. They need every little bit of help they can get. So if you have the time and the patience, please ask your local food bank or look online for volunteer opportunities.

Many kids will be spending Thanksgiving alone. Most of them are in an orphanage. There are 148 million orphans in the world, according to www.orphanhelpers.com. Many of them don't know how important it is to have a family. Many of them don't even know what Thanksgiving is really about. You can bring joy to their lives by spending Thanksgiving with them. You can help make Thanksgiving dinner and help serve to the kids. You can teach the kids the importance of Thanksgiving.

Another good place to volunteer is at a nursing home. You can offer to decorate your local nursing home for the holidays. You can even offer to help serve Thanksgiving dinner at the nursing home. It will brighten the senior citizens lives. Many of them will probably be spending Thanksgiving at the nursing home. So you can make the day a special one for them.

Thanksgiving is a great holiday to show how thankful you are for all the goods things in your life. You can show how thankful you are by doing any of the things are just mentioned. But just don't do them just for Thanksgiving. Do charitable acts all through the year. Someday you might need someone to do a charitable act for you. But for now, be thankful for everything you can do for others.