What I'm doing to help this holiday season
Whenever I have a good idea, invariably someone else thought of it first. For that reason, I don't usually act on ideas right away, especially if they involve asking other people for help or cooperation. As I was planning to donate money to a food bank this holiday season, it suddenly occurred to me that if one donation is good, a whole bunch of donations is better.
A whole bunch of donations pretty much looks like a food drive.
It seemed like a really simple and obvious idea, especially since I belong to a large, commmunity organization that is pretty good about responding to things like that.
Since I thought of it, of course, I figured someone else had thought of it first. . . so I waited.
A couple of weeks later, I still hadn't heard anything about this organization doing a food drive, so I put some feelers out.
As it turned out, this was one of those rare occasions where I really did think of an idea first. At first, the response was a little tentative, so I sat back for a bit and then prodded harder. As of tonight, I officially have approval from the organization's governing body to go ahead with it. Willing volunteers to help organize and coordinate (and hopefully donate as well) are suddenly popping up out of the woodwork, and that's really encouraging: as a result, the money and canned good drive starts on Sunday. I'm dumping $500 in personally, but I'm hoping to raise a lot more than that.
What are you doing to help others during the holidays?
5 retorts. What say you?
I believe in the power of giving. At times in my life, I gave almost to a fault.
But I also believe something I heard recently: Too many (personal) problems, and resulting symptoms (like exhaustion), can distract even the best giver.
I have my head buried deep in concern about helping my household make it thru the holidays and beyond. For once in a very long time, I haven't established a "giving plan" for the near future.
That's scary to me. There's a pureness of joy that comes with giving, so I see myself walking in the wrong direction.
I will say this... the mix/composition my giving has taken on new forms as limited financial resources mean increased giving in services and random kind deeds. Isn't that the best anyway?
Congrats on the food drive. I've participated in drives for food and other needs... doing home deliveries for 1 or 2. The results are awesome as faces light up.
Hawa, author of
Fackin Truth Blog (Personal Blog)
and
Cleanse Master Remix (Health Blog)
Hawa - This is a big generalization, but on the whole I don't think people should give when their own personal situations warrant looking after oneself more.
The drive is ready to go, and tomorrow we kick off. I hope we make a lot. People in New York desperately need it.
How did the drive go?? I'm really impressed that you had the drive and motivation to put it together.
I'll be donating to our company food drive for Thanksgiving - we're actually sponsoring a handful of families and providing all the food to prepare a Thanksgiving meal directly to them rather than giving a bunch of general stuff to the local food bank. It's really got a lot of people here motivated - I think because it feels much more personal.
Here's an article I wrote about 3 charitable prganizations that help our troops overseas celebrate a homestyle Christmas (never hurts to think ahead!): http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1188086/3_charitable_organizations_that_help.html?cat=48
sophie - in your honor, I made a new post with the update. We have four more weeks to go. I hope we blow away our original goal and have to reset it much higher. It's actually very easy to organize a food drive. Selling the idea to the governing board of the organization I'm working with took much longer.
Thanks for the article. I like the way your company is doing its food drive this year. Making it personal also makes it more special, I think.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Susan
http://www.car-insurance-choices.com
Post a Comment