People seem to say......

That this time of the year is for giving, and helping out charities.... why can't you do it in other parts of the year? Not just around the holidays?

Myself, I try to do a few things throughout the year and then on the holidays, because my father died from cancer, I give  to the American Cancer Society. I also give to the VFW since my dad was also a vet. I don't go nuts with the donations but I give what I can. I usually split about 400 a year between the two organizations. It just depends on what I can spare that time of year. Also some of my free time I spend at the Shoebox Ministries their goal is to help homeless men, women and families in the Greater Phoenix Area by providing financial support and donating toiletry items or shoe box kits in Arizona.

Then about this time of year The Salvation Army's Christmas Angel trees start popping up in the malls. Basically what it is on the trees there are tags for either a boy or girl (under the age of 12) with presents they would like for the holidays. Now you can either go shopping for those items or just give cash so the SA can go out and buy it. Now mind you these tags don't just have toys on them. They also have clothing needs on them. Yea from time to time, you'll see the high priced item a child wants, but seriously those are far and few between. The families (kids) on the trees had to qualify for the holiday assistance program through the SA, so you know what you are getting is not just going to some spoiled , snot nosed brat. I usually pick one boy and one girl tag off the tree, thats asked for reasonable items (clothing and toys.) That's just me, there are other people that will tag 10 random tags and fill them completely. Something I wish I could do, but I'm nowhere near rich lol.

Hell I was at the dollar store the other day getting myself an energy drink (have I mentioned RipIts rule?) and they asked if I wanted to donate a dollar to get a child a Christmas present....I figured it was a dollar each so I did a couple for a boy and a couple for a girl.

If you want to give to a charity or organization but don't really have the funds, try donating some of your free time to a local one....soup kitchens, homeless shelters, etc.....you would be surprised at how many of them just want volunteers to help out.


And on that note, if your interested in charity work or information on donating to different organizations, check out one of th eblogs I follow regularly, Little Flowers. She always has good info on things you can do like that. She's also having a contest which you can read up on here The winner of the contest can either win a 25 dollar amazon gift card and a 50 dollar donation to a charity on her list in your name (she may do it to another charity, if you win you can ask her) or the full 75 dollars to the charity. It's up to you.


If you just want to bring a smile to someones face then I say do this.....Sometimes a hug is all you need.