Chasing Charity: How to Give Back This Holiday Season
by For many, the holiday season is the perfect opportunity to ask for and receive that perfect gift. Packages come in the mail from aunts and uncles and grandparents, and mom and dad have a closet full of items off of this year’s wish list. In all the excitement and expectation, though, some need to be reminded that the season is not just about getting- it’s also about giving. Community charities are a fantastic opportunity to give back, and this year there are many ways to get involved.
Every Christmas morning over the last four years, senior Hannah Eder and her family have piled in the car, driven to Washington DC, and helped to supply food to the urban poor and homeless.
“We usually take meals to homes around the city,” Eder explains, “but last year we worked a shift at a homeless shelter, serving food at a soup kitchen.” The Eder family still celebrates Christmas, but they push their “Christmas morning” back to Christmas Eve so that they can spend the 25th giving to others.
“Last year the soup kitchen we helped needed only four people a shift, so my family handled a whole shift ourselves. Still, more volunteers are always welcome. Organizations like that can use the help.”
A soup kitchen is one of the most popular kinds of charities with which students can easily help out. One prominent organization, DC Central Kitchen, is centered right next door in our nation’s capital. DC Central Kitchen provides programs, like culinary job training, meal distribution, food recycling, and others. Kids can volunteer by donating, helping to prepare, or serving meals. To sign up for a volunteer time slot, visit dccentralkitchen.org.
Those who don’t particularly want to work with food may consider volunteering at a clothing drive for the needy. Gifts for the Homeless, an organization with local branches, is holding a used clothing drive from December 4 through December 6 of this year. Volunteers are needed to receive clothes and set up the site for the weekend’s activities, as well as to separate clothing by gender and type of item. The donations are then bagged, labeled, and sorted to be delivered to shelters. Gifts for the Homeless hopes for up to 300 volunteers this year and is happy to accept the help of anyone, regardless of age, though volunteers under 18 must come with an accompanying adult or a waiver form signed by a parent or guardian.
Even students who don’t have the time to give to volunteering can still help out through their donations. Messiah’s Market, a local “free grocery store” for the underprivileged, stocks its shelves solely with donated cans and boxes of food. Soup kitchens often take donated cans of food as well, and Gifts for the Homeless uses donated clothes and money to buy new clothes for the drive. When shoppers drop their change into a Salvation Army volunteer’s red kettle, it helps to pay for Christmas dinners, clothing, and toys for families in need.
By volunteering, students may indeed be changing the lives of others, but what difference are they making in their own lives? “Volunteering has taught me a lot,” said Hannah, in response to this very question. “A lot of times people judge the homeless and look down on them. It’s sad to see so many people who can’t help themselves, but by volunteering and working with them I’ve really seen the whole issue from a different perspective.”
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