[-erin-]

Have you done any holiday giving this year?
charity work?
donating to a child or family in need?
toys for tots?
etc?

[mimilareaux]

We have participated in some holiday giving this year... Collectively, my office provides donations from the employees to a local ministry as well as provides a Christmas Tree with Families in Need on it, and we can pick and purchase for each of them.

[survey77777]

I have been donating canned goods wherever they are accepted, but this post makes me think and I need to do more. Thanks for the reminder.

[-erin-]

I feel like I'm cheating, but for Juliet's birthday we got some duplicate toys that are still in their packaging, so I'm going to donate them to Toys for Tots. I just need to get it there on time! Looks like most sites stop accepting donations tomorrow!

[MrsLMB]

I have been trying to find a place to take some gently used clothes and toys but all of the charities that give the stuff away need to have brand new things, in packages. I don't have the money or time to give but we have things we can give, it's just that no one wants them. I would rather have them go somewhere that they are free to those who need them, unlike goodwill or salvation army.

DH gives canned goods at work in a company wide food drive. I just wish there was more we could give that didn't involve buying new toys and clothes.

[Kobain's Mommy]

Not this year... I'm just burnt out with the greediness of the Giving tree the past few years. I wish Walmart still did a Giving Tree for the Anne Carlsen Center. It's a school and boarding school for mentally and physically handicap children. Sadly some of these kids literally get dumped off there. They never receive birthday or Christmas presents from their families let alone any family visits. One year we got 4 kids off there and it was so much fun shopping for them. They didn't want the hottest toy or video game system. They wanted simple things.

[PurpleStar]

Although not Xmas related specifically, we are donating some of my gently used clothing and Vaughn's clothes/toys/gear to a woman's rehabilitation center...the women and their children who go there are mostly from abusive homes and literally leave with the clothes on their back. So when they leave the center, they have nothing...except for what they are given provided by the donations of others.

[lunarmagic]

I haven't really this year, but I want to. Well, I guess I did sort of... I participated in a clothing swap and all the unclaimed clothes (there was tons) was going to a charity. I like to give to specific things, not general things, and I'm not sure where. In the past I have mostly given to animal-based charities, animal sanctuaries and the like.

Originally Posted by MrsLMB

I have been trying to find a place to take some gently used clothes and toys but all of the charities that give the stuff away need to have brand new things, in packages. I don't have the money or time to give but we have things we can give, it's just that no one wants them. I would rather have them go somewhere that they are free to those who need them, unlike goodwill or salvation army.

DH gives canned goods at work in a company wide food drive. I just wish there was more we could give that didn't involve buying new toys and clothes.

What about a church or daycare?

[survey77777]

I was going to suggest a women's shelter too leanne. That's where I take stuff when I don't have a pick up arranged.

[MrsLMB]

I am thinking the Ronald McDonald house too. They will take just about anything I think, even old board games and movies.

[Linzie]

I haven't done anything like that. I just found out my best friend is preggo (She's having to move her wedding up!) and I'm saving all Xander's old clothes/gently used toys for her baby.

Besides that, I don't have the money or the time to be donating. I wish I was in a spot I could, but without my mom's or the BF's help, I couldn't have bought Xander Christmas.

[sarahp]

We did a donation to Second Harvest Food Bank which is a really nice local organisation that gives mostly fresh food to the needy - Serving Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties - Second Harvest Food Bank

DHs work does a big drive each year, and last year they hired a semi-trailer and did a massive shop at Costco to buy stuff for the Food Bank. This year they collected I think $500,000 or so, and with gift matching it would take it to $1 million, so this year they just donated most of it straight to the Food Bank as cash.

[momoftwins]

I haven't done anything specifically for Christmas yet. I always plan on it, but with the kids, the month of December just seems to FLY by and I space it. I do a lot of donating year round though. Anytime I'm out shopping and they ask if I'd like to donate to St. Jude or something like that I always do donations.

I really need to start doing that though with the kids. When I was a kid, my dad worked in radio and he was always doing food drives with his stations that we'd go along to, to help with. I miss doing that. I think it's really important to teach kids to give back in whatever way they can, financially or donating time. Every little bit counts.