Charity/Giving back at Christmas

[jopickles]

Before I start I would just like to say I'm not a do-gooder or wanting to make others feel guilty I just wondered if people have donated to good causes or knew of campaigns going on that others may want to contribute to

I have donated 20 advent calendars to the local foodbank after seeing something Jason Mansford put on facebook and am currently arranging with work shoe boxes for the local Help the Aged centre

Anyone got any nice ideas?

People tend to disagree with the evangelist Christian element to OCC.

Lots of threads on here about the Samaritan's Purse, same as OCC IIRC so may be worth doing a search

we get a good interest balance from credit card

each year I work how much though the year and half of that (or 50 per charity, whichever is highest) and DH and I pick a charity and donate to them. Sometimes local, sometimes national but always something that has been important during the year.

I don't think there's one here, Rag, it's a really small town. There's a Salvation Army place though, they may know of someone and be kind enough to deliver it so thank you for the idea

I take lots to charity shop that support local cancer hospice. Also take stuff to school as simple as left over christmas wrapping paper. Giving is rewarding, and little thing help those who unfortunate at this festive time.

I also support the Bliss Premature Baby charity annual christmas campaign as my ds was born 12 weeks early.

www.bliss.org.uk/get-involved/donate/bliss-christmas-appeal/

I shall donate to sands

I always support Crisis at Christmas and Shelter. Being homeless is shit, and particularly miserable at Christmas. When the DC are older and don't want to come home for Christmas, I am looking forward to volunteering at these charities over the holidays.

It is not just the poor, it is also the elderly too that need support during the winter.

I support Crisis, amongst others. It must be the loneliest time for anyone without the security of a home.

Instead of buying presents, me, my mum and sister agreed to donate to a charity of our choice. I think we'll probably do the same this year. My sis and I donate monthly to our chosen charities now in fact. Charity is not just for Christmas - can I copyright that?

We also give to the food banks locally, so I love the idea of the advent calendars. Will be doing that.

I always donate to Send a Cow at Christmas, and this year they have semen straws which gave me a
Happy memories of helping my father with semen straws.

My cousin and I donate to our local foodbanks in lieu of presents to each other. Neither of us need anything, so it's nicer to give to someone who does. We each split our donation into two halves, some Christmassy treats and more ordinary food with long shelf dates so that it can be used into the new year.

I hadn't thought of advent calendars for foodbands. I'll ask at ours and see if they'd like some. Thank you to whichever pp suggested that.

We buy charity cards and quite a few presents from charity shops. DH and DCs will all be getting books from the Oxfam bookshop as well as other things.

Foodbanks, not foodbands

We have a local campaign which I'll donate to, which operated through the foodbank last year but seems a bit bigger this year. www.facebook.com/childsxmas/timeline

I used to do the Salvation Army toy appeal but after discovering it didn't go to what I would consider "children in need" so we stopped doing it. We now just give extra to the two charities we support throughout the year instead.

What did you discover about the SA daisyflowerchain? Who does it go to?

I thought they liaised with outside agencies to find appropriate recipients.

As I mentioned up thread, when I helped out with my local SA appeal social services chose the recipients from families they worked with. The SA had no say.

How about this? It's a project to fund a Christmas meal for care leavers. It will be looking for volunteers and donations of gifts for care leavers and their children once the initial cash has been raised.

Barnardos run a domestic support service near here and one of the staff there is collecting specific items for the families supported by the service. A few days ago she put out a plea for Christmas presents for an 11-year-old girl who is living in a refuge with her mum. I expect other refuges may operate something similar.

My DH asks his (now adult) daughters for a charity donation every Christmas/birthday instead of a present (they do buy him something small and jokey too) . I suppose DEC etc is a bit impersonal if you are trying to set a good example to smaller children, but the Oxfam catalogue lets you 'buy' a goat, a cow etc for someone.. which they might enjoy. Giving advent calendars to food banks is a lovely idea which I'll look at
I'm not that unselfish, but I do 'donate' 4 hours of my time every week volunteering in an Oxfam shop .

Aw, this is a lovely thread. I did a post the other week about Jason Manford's advent calendar facebook appeal.
We usually do shoeboxes, but this year I thought we'd do something different so am looking to donate to the local foodbank at Christmas instead, with mince pies and advent calendar type stuff.
I like looking at all the other ideas as an always up for new ideas where to donate!

I'm obviously missing something- i've done Operation Christmas Child for years. Why shouldn't I anymore??!

Don't go there with that debate, you'll de-rail the thread and cause a bun or seasonal mince pie fight lol
On a simple level, some people take offence at the fact that in some countries, Christian leaflets are handed out with the boxes. (Not here, UK, just in some places.)

I used to do the Salvation Army toy appeal but after discovering it didn't go to what I would consider "children in need" so we stopped doing it

daisyflowerchain so where does it go then? Genuinely curious.

I don't have any spare money, so I do at least 5 shifts at one of the Crisis at Christmas centres and have done for few years now. Also help with the set up, sorting donations for few weeks before hand, and help with the take down and sorting and tons and tons and tons of data entry required by supporters / funders after it's all over. I also do a year round soup run, and if occasionally have any spare cash, will buy food when out and see homeless people. And volunteer with dog rescues. One day I'll win the lotto and be able to give more cash type donations but do what I can without much money right now