Fred Goodall of MochaDad
“Each year, we do many things to give back during the holiday season such as organizing an Angel Tree toy drive, delivering meals to elderly people for Meals on Wheels, serving meals to the homeless on Thanksgiving and Christmas, sorting food and packing boxes at the Food Bank. I also ask my children to take $20 of their own money and purchase a gift for a child in need who is the same age as they are. These activities allow us to serve others as a family and they teach our children the importance of being compassionate and giving back to the community.”
Cristie Ritz King of Reinvention Girl
“At work and at home, I try to keep my holiday giving local as there are plenty of people who need a boost right here in our community. The kids and I shop for gifts for kids in need and at work we sponsor families that need not just gifts, but food and clothes as well. In addition, for every gift we give someone, our family also donates to a charity that is special to that person. Even my own kids pick somewhere they want their “donation gifts” to go. We try really hard to instill a sense of gratitude in our kids during a season where greed and the love of stuff can easily take over. For all that we get, we try to give in kind.”
Chrysula Winegar of When You Wake Up A Mother and Global Moms Challenge
“The holidays are such a special time for our family. We celebrate Christmas and enjoy sharing in the traditions of friends celebrating Hanukkah and Kwanzaa as well — what’s not to love about the convergence of all of these?! We typically “give” our brothers and sisters anti-malarial bednets from Nothing But Nets or vaccines for kids in need from Shot@Life. I love purchasing from the gift catalogues at Save the Children, UNICEF*, and shopping for hand crafted goods that provide jobs for women in some of the world’s tough spots like Krochet Kids*. There are so many ways to make sure the dollars you’re spending anyway have purpose and meaning behind them. We also try to give time – lots of singing and performances for our kids this time of year for church choirs. Their sweet voices bring so much joy to the community and we get them caroling to the elderly as often as we can convince them. Being mindful and inviting over friends who might be solo matters to us – opening our home to others is a big part of our holiday season. All these things help me look over the frenzy and focus on what matters most.”
Jessica Urgelles of A Southern Mother
“Together, we’re gathering all of my son’s old toys and giving them to underprivileged children . We’re also going to be using the J&J Donate A Photo app to donate a photo every day between now and Christmas.”
Nicole Morgan of Sisters from Another Mister
“Christmas got underway with #GivingTuesday and decorating our home with Holiday candles and loud Christmas music playing much to the eye rolling of a sixteen year old! In an effort to downsize, we donated many extra Christmas wares to a Women Crisis Center this year as my word for 2015 is ‘simplify.’ Each of my girls picked a charity on December 2nd, and then opted for sending a goat to a family in need rather than sending Christmas cards (they also like not having to pose for a holiday shot). Packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child* is a fun-filled holiday tradition, and writing letters to send inside them always makes one wonder about the face that will be opening the box. Last year, we copied friends and purchased 4 gift cards and delivered them to mailboxes in a neighborhood a little ways away – this was a highlight we plan on doing again. Perhaps YOU can too?”
Jeannette Kaplun of Hispana Global
“This holiday season we are giving back as a family because we feel so blessed that we have to find a way to help others. So we are volunteering our time, donating toys for kids who wouldn’t receive gifts otherwise, donating food to a local food back and giving money to our favorite charities (such as Shot@Life, No Kid Hungry* and JAFCO*).”
Sarah Hughes, Finnegan and The Hughes
“We give back every year at the holidays by supporting local toy drives. It helps teach my young children that when Santa brings them toys they need to remember others and that is why we give back.”
Danielle Smith of Extraordinary Mommy
“For my family, giving back over the holidays means the four of us coming together and deciding what is the best and biggest way that we can have an impact. In the past, we’ve provided meals, we’ve adopted a family and done all of their shopping for them, or surprised a family by paying off their layaway. This year, we’ll let the kids decide how we can really make a difference, because the older they get, the more they want to be involved, and that’s important to me. We’ll be making sure that we can help a family with kids celebrate the holidays in a way they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.”
Dresden Shumaker of Creating Motherhood
“It was only a few short years ago that my own family was on public assistance. And we’re still not in a position financially to give the way we wish we could. But what we can do is give of our time to help amplify messages of causes that we feel are important. In 2014, I wrote 12 posts on my blog that were specifically about social good campaigns and causes that were important to me.Some of these causes were about hunger issues, Alzheimer’s awareness, how to help families supplement needs that aren’t met by their food stamp benefits, and organizations who continue to help families who were affected by Hurricane Sandy. I look online every day to see what messages I can share. What stories will pull people in and want them to get involved? By sharing messages from the Johnson & Johnson team, they’re able to see how one person can make a huge difference. We’re all in this together.”
Tiany Davis of Social Savvy Mom
“Goodness spurs goodness, it’s been proven that a single act can influence dozens more, so this year our family is taking part in the 25 days of RACK – “Random Acts of Christmas Kindness.” Our hope is to cause a ripple effect in the community by performing Random Acts of Christmas Kindness throughout the month of December.”
Meg Rosker of Let Children Play
“My husband and I come from very different cultures and backgrounds and so each holiday season, our home is open and welcoming to all those we know from all over the world to come to visit. This year there will be nine of us for the month of December, gathering together to share special ethnic traditions, songs, prayers and love. We all pitch in to help with festivals at the Waldorf Charter School where I teach. We help children create lanterns for the Lantern Walk, join in building the Advent spiral for the Spiral Walk and stay up late into the night baking Santa Lucia buns on December 13th. Soon we will be creating all the costumes for the second graders to wear for the Santa Lucia festival. We also pitch in collecting coats for our school wide winter coat drive. It is awesome to see all the coats laid out for our needy families to choose from during the month of December. We help keep little kids and big kids warm with the donations collected. It is a busy and full time and all the hands and hearts that are here to stay are necessary to make all this happen for the community within our home and within our school.”
Anne Parris of Not A Supermom
“My family and I will be donating through our church for local social good issues as well as a school we support in Haiti. It’s a pleasure to help both locally and internationally.”