The season of giving

There is no shortage of ways you can make a difference in the lives of others, in this holiday season and throughout the year. We can bring back the magic of the holiday season and remember; there are no acts too small, just be sure to be kind.

 

1. People need your help all year-round

Sick kids in hospitals, children in battered women’s shelters who have fled their homes in the middle of the night, and others might like a toy or two, but nobody’s donating in the middle of the year. The same goes for other forms of volunteering – there are homeless, disabled, sick, poor and needy people who need help all year-round.

2. The recipients of charity are people with feelings, value, and dignity

Poor people don’t need the dregs of your life, whether in the form of your material cast-offs, or your time, emotion, and advice. Being poor means lacking resources, not lacking humanity. If you can’t connect with the people you aim to serve, as people, then nobody is the better for your alleged charity.

3. Consider the gift of independence

Think about the way you volunteer or give charity – is there a way you could increase people’s abilities to make their own choices, to follow their own paths, to develop their own abilities? Give them hope.

4. Be connected          

Too often, people in a position to help hold themselves apart from the people they hope to assist. And no wonder – for the once-a-year volunteer, there is little time to get to know anyone, let alone really understand what their lives are like. If you can, make a long-term commitment and open yourself up to the lives of the people your charity is aimed at. Get to know people face-to-face, as friends and colleagues and equals.

5. Forget about yourself

Last but most important, remember, it’s not about you. Yes, it feels good to give, and there’s no point in feeling guilty about that, but don’t do it because it makes you feel good, or because of so called Karma, or because it’s part of your organization’s charity programme, or for whatever other way that charity benefits you. Do it because you want to do it from your heart… being a giving person without expectation.

This year, instead of giving during the season of giving and then returning to your “normal life” when you pack away the Christmas tree and lights, let the holidays be a starting point to a life of year-round giving.