OT: Do you partcipate in any holiday charities?

We "Angel Tree"...

This is something that my family has done for years! 

Each person in the family gets at least 1 tag (if not 2 or 3) and buys presents for the kids or elderly.... I've tried to make it a fun time but to also impress on my kids how important it is to share.....  I think I'll take my grand-daughter with me to do it this year.....

My office used to partcipate and put up an Angel Tree in the lobby, but I guess it got to be too much hassle for HR, because they stopped.... so we have to go to the nearest Mall now, but it's still a part of our tradition!


I've always wanted to volunteer to help serve/cook Thanksgiving dinner somewhere, but never have.... I read this morning that our local Salvation Army center had to actually turn away volunteers this year because they had too many....

So what do ya'll do to get into the spirit of giving?

Karen, I also pull a kid of the church tree we have here.  When I worked in downtown  Houston the building I worked in had trees in the lobby and I'd get one there.  I tend to pull a little boy everytime that is around the age of my boys.  I want them to be involved in the spirit of giving too and they relate to others their age.

Thanks for the reminder this morning.  We need to start our giving this year.

I was reading the newspaper yesterday and was touched how many were doing for the less fortunate this year.  I want to start helping out in our local food bank/soup kitchens.

We do the "Angel Tree" at the office; when my kids were younger I would pull a girl for each about the same age and we would shop for them.  Now I pull elderly tags to buy for each year and I try to do at least 2. 

This year I am filling flat rate boxes to send overseas too.  I've had fun coming up with items to stuff the box full.  Still have an inch or two in the top of the current box so, off to the Dollar Store to see what treasures I can find to finish filling it!

My daughter and I have done "Angel Trees" for years too.  We always pick an older kid because it seems like they're always the ones that get left behind.  One year my L&D dept adopted a whole family and I was the one that got to go shopping for them.  I swear it was the most fun I ever had.  The little girl asked for a coat and shoes-no toys well she got her wish plus plenty of toys too.

Thanks for the reminder, it's time to go find an Angel Tree.

We usally elf a family - it started when I was a very very poor single mom and someone who knew me got the teen (about 4 at the time) clothes and gifts and added wrapping paper - the deal was I had to wrap them and put them under the tree from Mom not tell  and pay her back by doing the same thing when I had the ablity too

I elfed this morning - it was awsome not a whole lot of toys b/c I know the extended family of the peep we picked send toys - no clothes or diapers or practical thing but great toys - even though the mom tells them all the kids have outgrown their clothes.

I love doing it - it is something we can do to give back a little of what we have been blessed with.

We always adopt several families at work and all pitch in to buy for them.  This year we are doing 4 families plus the family of a co-worker whose brother is fighting cancer.

We hooked up with a local organization run by a woman who is really wonderful and energetic about helping the kids.  We had a back pack drive for back-to-school through her organization and it was a real success.  Our plant is in a poor part of Houston so there are many opportunities close by and we try to help out as much as possible - especially at the local schools.

Prior to being bought by the Europeans in 2001 we did nothing for the local community but now we are very active in it.  We get corporate money that doesn't come out of our local budget but the caveat is we have to volunteer our time also - not just money.

We are headed to the mall right now to get an angel or two. I heard on the radio that Salvation Army is worried about meeting all the angels on their trees because of the economy.

We "adopt" a child from a wonderful local charity, The Ark.  It's a home that our nearby convent runs for abused and neglected kids.  When kids arrive at The Ark, they have absolutely nothing but the clothes on their back and sometimes a few things in a grocery bag.  "Adopting" always includes giving them a suitcase full of clothes along with gift wrapped toys.  The director of the program is adament that when kids leave The Ark, they at least have clothes and a decent suitcase to carry with them.  No child leaves The Ark with their clothing in a grocery bag.  I love that. 

When our kids were little we always had them participate in Toys for Tots.  We would take them shopping and have each of them choose a gift for another child.  Then we would take them to one of the drop off stations, either the local fire station or US Marine Corps collection point, where they would make the donation themselves. 

I think it's so important for kids who have so much to learn that they need to help others. 

What a great charity!

This will be our third year of "charity" Christmas.  It started out due to ungrateful teenagers.  Now I ask each family member what their favorite charity is and I make a donation to that charity and the family member gets an acknowledgement and thank you note from the charity.

I never have to leave the house, I can wait until the last minute, my "shopping" is tax deductible and I feel good about it.

This year we will be making donations to:

St. Jude's Children's Hospital
Veterans of Foreign War
American Cancer Society
Lupus Foundation
Fibromyalgia Research Foundation (or whatever it is called now)