Community Outreach

[Lolwlias]

This year I am working to help two organizations.
One is our Clinton County Christmas Bureau and I've been holding 50/50 raffles each Friday. (I started late this year, so I didn't raise as much as I did last year. Last year we helped two families. This year, I'll only be able to help one family with four children.)
The other organization is Berkshire Farm. They help provide Christmas for some teens in a group home. My company is making a donation and the final 50/50 will be for them.

 

[MrsSoup]

That's great!! Here in my town they do a toy run with the American Legion. The benefit is actually tonight. My mom does all the shopping and wrapping and decides which families are going to get assistance this year, then we go deliver everything right before Christmas. We have helped out in the past when we were home on leave, now that we live here though I plan to help out alot more. The families get food, clothes, necessities, and presents for Christmas for the kids. It's great to see the looks on their faces when we arrive, the parents or grandparents usually cry and the kids are so excited. It's very heartwarming.

This year there are 3 families and 24 individual kids that are getting assistance. The individual children are just going to get stockings filled with necessities I think.

 

[KimD]

My chidrens school get the kids involved. Each grade does something to help others. Today I am going to K-Mart with the third graders. They held a spell-a-thon and raised money thru pledges. There are 125 third graders in school they each have to spend $25.00 on the age of the child that they were assigned. My son has to get a gift for a 2 yr old boy.

My second grader is having a math-a-thon next week again money is raised thru pledges. They will then take a walking field trip to the grocery store which is two blocks away. They will buy food for the food baskets that another organization will recieve. They go to a local owned store and are treated just like any other customer that walks thru the door.(There will be about 100 2nd graders walking thru the door with in a 45 min period) They are greeted (many by name) by the owner of the store and handed a cart. They are given a certain money amount to spend and with calculators in hand they shop for thier contributions. Arrangements are made for the charities truck to pick the stuff up at the store form the kids. Last year was great and hopefully they will have the same driver this year. He thanked each child as he gave him their purchases and told them without their help they would not be able to give some people a Holiday dinner. They then returned to school and were escorted into the lunchroom where the principal and the store owner were waiting for them with hot cocoa and cookies and told them that they were proud that they did such a good deed for people in need.

One of my dd12's school clubs she belongs too raised $186 to adopt a family for Christmas. They picked a family with a 14 & 16 yr old girls. They are having fun planning, purchasing and making things for these two girls.

I have always taught my children to help others in need. I just think it is great that their schools are teaching the kids the same thing.

 

[momof4]

We, along with my siblings and DH's siblings, adopt 2 families for Christmas. We buy gifts for them instead of each other.

This year instead of my kids exchanging gifts with a neighbor family who we are very close to, we are going to help them make a Christmas dinner to donate to a local church that delivers meals to needy families. The kids will use the money they ususally use for the gifts (plus some from the adults) to shop for and buy the food.

Today my 3 school age kids could pay $1 each to come to school out of uniform. This money is then used to purchase food for a local food pantry and gifts for a few families the school adopts. Odd grades are responsible for the food and even grades take care of the gifts.

My DD's American Heritage GIrl troop has been earning money since September. At the last meeting they decided to use it for Heifer International.

My DS's Boy Scout troop has been earning money for a donation to Habitat for Humanity. They have also helped with the building of a house in the area.

Our family has been participating in Operation Christmas Child for many years. We put at least a couple shoeboxes together each year.

Our church always does a giving tree that we contribute to. We usually try to get tags that are for a child the same age/sex as each of mine and then they are responsible for the shopping and wrapping.

Wow! Sometimes I feel we don't do enough to help others, but now that I've listed it, I feel much better about our contributions!