5 Ways to Give Back to Our Local Community This Holiday Season
5 Ways to Give Back to Our Local Community This Holiday Season
This year has demonstrated, perhaps more than ever, the importance of our family, friends, neighbors, and community. It truly “takes a village” to keep a community functioning effectively, whether that’s by keeping our waterways clean, feeding the hungry, teaching our kids, or supporting small businesses.
With the holidays right around the corner, December offers the perfect opportunity to give back to the place we call home. You might want to focus your efforts near home, expand to our larger community, or even help support the people closest to you. Whether you’re passionate about a particular cause or just want to get more involved in general, let these 5 ways, both big and small, inspire you to do good in your town.
HELP OUT LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS
- Support local businesses. Our community has been impacted by the pandemic, with many businesses being forced to limit capacity, instill social distancing efforts, and even shutter entirely in some cases. Help keep money in our local economy by shopping local instead of relying on online shopping from national chains.
Ideas:
- From handcrafted soaps and one-of-a-kind apparel to locally produced chocolate and small-batch wines, you’ll find plenty of unique gifts at the small businesses that dot our community.
- Consider purchasing tickets to attend live-streamed holiday concerts and shows.
- Buy cookies and other baked goods from our local bakeries.
- Get takeout from our local restaurants.
- Support local farmers by purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables at community farmer’s markets.
Take action: If you’re concerned about shopping in person right now, many of these businesses, though small, offer online shopping, with options for in-store pick-up, curbside delivery, and/or mail options.
- Donate to local charities. Nonprofits could always use your financial support, so consider making a monetary donation to help them carry out their mission in our community. But if money is tight (or you want to support in other ways), think beyond just donating dollars.
Ideas:
- Consider donating to a charity in someone else’s name as an altruistic gift on behalf of a friend or relative.
- Give your time volunteering to a cause or organization that really matters to you, such as your local school, animal rescue organization, mental health awareness group, or environmental nonprofit.6
- Give blood to our local blood bank.
- Donate new or used books to our community library.
- Send school supplies to our neighborhood elementary school.
- Help struggling neighbors by donating blankets to the homeless.
- Pick out toys to give to a charity that caters to families. 5
Take action: Many collection efforts run by charitable organizations and businesses take place during the holidays. Look to see what’s already taking place in our community and choose one or more to give to this season.
Here are some links to local charities we personally give to during the year: Interfaith of the Woodlands, Montgomery County Food Bank, Meals on Wheels Montgomery County, Memorial Hermann In the Pink of Health, Young Life, Beyond Batten Disease Foundation, Candlelighters, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
CARE FOR YOUR NEIGHBORS
- Organize a holiday food drive. This year, in particular, people are struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table. The pandemic has caused many businesses to close or reduce their staff size, putting many people out of work.
Ideas:
- If you personally know someone who needs help buying groceries, reach out and offer to help that one family.
- If not, partner with a local food bank, soup kitchen, nonprofit or community organization that feeds people in need. Our local food bank is Montgomery County Food Bank.
- Round up a few friends, family, co-workers, or neighbors to collect food for a few weeks. Then deliver the bounty in time for the holidays.
Take action: Take advantage of your grocery store coupons and buy-one-get-one offers to inexpensively stock up on nonperishable goods.
- Adopt a family or an individual. The holidays can be a struggle, especially financially, for some families. They might not be able to buy a Christmas tree or presents for their children. Maybe their holiday meal consists of boxed macaroni and cheese because they can’t afford a turkey and fresh vegetables. You can make a difference by “adopting” a particular family (or even just a child) to help make their holiday special.
Ideas:
- If you know a needy family, help them directly.
- If not, ask a community group for the name of a family or individual in need.
- Some businesses and churches even sponsor toy drives or “angel trees” where you can pick the name of a needy family off the tree and buy from their wish lists.
Take action: This works great as a family project. Get the kids in your life involved to help make holiday cards and pick out toys to give to the children in the adopted family.
- Perform random acts of kindness. Don’t think you need to “go big or go home” in your give-back efforts. You can make a big difference one small act at a time.
Ideas:
- Give a generous tip to a waitress.
- Pay for the coffee of the car behind you in the drive-through.
- Take care of a neighbor’s pet while they’re out of town.
- Send holiday cards to deployed military personnel.
- Deliver a plate of homemade holiday cookies to our local fire or police station.
- Smile at a stranger.
- Rake leaves for an elderly neighbor.
- Thank your child’s teacher for all their hard work this year.
- Send an uplifting text to a friend.
- Compliment someone.
- Help a coworker with an unpleasant task.
Take action: Need more ideas? Visit randomactsofkindness.org for hundreds of inspiring ways to make someone’s day a little brighter.
HOW WE CAN HELP YOU?
As real estate experts in our local community, we’re tuned into the unique needs of the place we all call home. Reach out to us today to discuss more ways to make a positive impact in our community—this holiday season and beyond. And we want to make sure you’re taken care of, too.
As always, if you’re thinking about buying or selling a home now or in the near future, we would be honored to help you!
Sources:
- Redfin –
https://www.redfin.com/blog/attract-wildlife-to-your-backyard/#:~:text=Sow%20plants%20that%20provide%20essentials,these%20alternate%20natural%20food%20sources - The Groundwater Foundation –
https://www.groundwater.org/action/home/raingardens.html - The Globe and Mail –
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/how-neighbours-and-online-maps-can-help-deter-break-ins/article34886427/ - Parade –
https://parade.com/1083640/stephanieosmanski/what-is-civic-engagement/ - MentalFloss –
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/88663/15-ways-give-back-holiday-season - Together We Rise –
https://www.togetherwerise.org/blog/7-ways-give-back-community/