Charitable help at christmas

[sleepwouldbenice]

Hi

I have been thinking that my two DD's (12 and 9) should see more of life outside of their lucky world and that we should do something charitable in the run up to Christmas and I am looking for ideas to do this

On the one hand I want them to be more involved than say doing a Xmas box, on the other hand I don't think they would be much use yet in somewhere like a homeless shelter. But I want it to be meaningful - both for them so again they start to again see the wider picture and hopefully the charity involved

Can anyone give me any ideas or have had any practical experiences so that I can try to work something out?

Thanks in advance

Help out at a food bank ?

Thanks, had just started to look there already, have some numbers to ring just not sure if they want you to be over 16 (as per local hospices, hospital etc just checked out)

Sorry, was being shouted!

I was just thinking its one step away from homelessness but its a very real situation a lot of people are facing, people that they may even know

They may not allow them to hand the bags out etc but I am sure they would let them put things away, pack bags with supervision etc

Could also give them a budget of £5 or something and encourage them to get stuff for the food bank, where do they think it's best to shop? Take them there and let them pick their own things (with guidance of no fresh stuff etc) and work out how much or how little they can buy. Then take it to the food bank to complete the cycle and talk about the people how might end up collecting it

Could maybe bake some treats to take to foodbank? Check first but a lot are happy to accept and hand them out to people who come in (not put in bags etc just for people to have there and then) some have tea and coffee so its nice to have a treat with it, and even without its just a nice surprise that someone has thought and cared enough to do that, can brighten a really bad day

our local radio station collects gifts to give to children locally. Could they organise a wee campaign at school to ask people to donate a toy, or donate something to the foodbank or similar cause? They could maybe ask the HT for permission, run it past the charity reps, write a paragraph for the school newsletter.

Not really on the front line though, so it might not be what you're after.

Thanks for your thoughts. Had also been on line tonight at radio station, as you say not front line (and they already do a collection at the school) but maybe if I contact them we could be involved with the distribution not just the donating

Will make some calls for both sets of ideas next week, thanks

Could you take them to buy lunch for people asking for money? I think it's something more people should do because everyone thinks they just want money for booze and drugs but last time I asked a young guy if I could buy him anything and he only wanted a bottle of water. Even when I pushed and said I was happy to buy anything he wanted he said no thank you I'm just really thirsty.