This season, as we pause to be thankful for our family and friends, we have a final opportunity during our gift giving to help those less fortunate.
When you donate to a local nonprofit that serves the hungry, the poor or children in need, lives can change in an instant. Someone on the edge of becoming homeless gets a new white shirt to wear to a job interview. A hungry family of four gets food for a month. A mother with few resources can smile at Christmas, knowing her youngster will find a gift under the tree.
For those of us with average incomes, such donations do not have to replace gift giving to family and friends, they can actually serve as our gifts to them.
Another option is to ask friends and family to donate to a nonprofit cause as your holiday gift from them. Your teenagers might even be interested in participating in this idea. Give them a chance to experience purposeful holiday giving. They may surprise you.
Several nonprofits in town have created special holiday programs for your giving participation. Greenbriar Children’s Center, which works to protect children and preserve families through programs like emergency shelter and services for runaways and the homeless, has several such programs.
Currently, fundraising for newer vans to safely take their young charges to programs and field trips, they provide ways to donate directly to that cause or to create your own fundraising page that your friends and family can donate to.
Go to Greenbriar’s website and give to the “challenge grant” in someone’s honor. They will get an acknowledgment letter.
Another Greenbriar program is the Greenbriar Gift Wrap at Oglethorpe Mall near Santa. The small fees charged for this service will help Greenbriar kids and families. A third great way to give is the Rudolph Tree of Dreams, where you can donate for a specific gift that will go to a child being helped by Greenbriar.
The Salvation Army has an online Red Kettle program that supplements its traditional bell-ringer holiday fundraising campaign. Go to onlineRedKettle.org/thesalvationarmy-savannahga to donate and create your own “online red kettle” where friends and family can donate in lieu of a gift to you.
The United Way in Savannah takes holiday donations that can be designated to a specific nonprofit and in recognition of someone you want to honor. Call Erica Neet at 912-651-7715 or mail your check to the United Way office, putting the information about your gift in the memo line. Be sure to include the name and address of your honoree so they can be sent an acknowledgment card.
If a particular senior citizen holds a special place in your heart, donate in their honor to Savannah’s Senior Citizens Inc. Their Meals on Wheels program keeps many seniors unable to get out or cook for themselves from being hungry. Just $6 will feed a senior for a day and $36 feeds a senior for a week. You can mail a check and write a note about who you want to acknowledge and their address. Or donate online including that same information.
The Marines’ Toys for Tots program will be accepting new, unwrapped toys through mid-December for delivery to kids who otherwise might miss a visit from Santa. Drop-off sites include the Christian Revival Center at the corner of 37th and Bull streets during the day, the Hunter Army Airfield PX, and Toys R Us just inside its front door.
America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia reminds us that one in four children are at-risk for hunger in southeastern Georgia. Canned-food donations can help hungry families eat well during the season. Here you can also make a donation in honor of someone as a gift to that person. Take your canned foods or monetary gift to Second Harvest’s facility on President Street or canned goods only to the lobby of Hyatt Regency Savannah.
Union Mission provides not only shelter and food for the homeless, but also counseling, health care, help overcoming substance abuse, job and life skills training and employment assistance.
They need white dress shirts for men in various sizes, steel-toed boots for warehouse job opportunities and bus passes for transportation to and from work. To donate, go to the main office at 120 Fahm St. You can designate where your donation goes and if done in honor of someone, a donation letter will be sent to them.
If monetary gifts are difficult, volunteer your time at a local nonprofit to give a little of yourself to those in need. Even one hour during lunch will help them to pinch hit for their volunteers who may be away during the holidays.
Volunteer by calling any of the nonprofits mentioned here or other great ones such as Frank Callen Boys and Girls Clubs, Big Brothers & Big Sisters. Or do a little research and find out how your favorite nonprofit needs help during the holidays.
Think about making this holiday season one of purposeful giving to help those in need — at-risk youth, the homeless and the hungry. It will be a great feeling for you and any recipient you decide to honor with your donation.
Sarah Todd is founder of Change Pioneers, an information resource on high impact change for social good. She can be reached at changepioneers@gmail.com or 912-224-2120.