For many of us in the United States, the Thanksgiving holiday ends up being a day about cooking for hours, eating a lot, and then melting into the couch to digest.
Here at Jukko, we propose that Thanksgiving should be more about doing good, giving back and putting something meaningful into the world.
Here are some ideas to help you give back this holiday.
Donate Gently Used Stuff
Home goods, books, clothes - all of them can be reused somewhere. Look for nonprofit thrift stores like Savers in your area.
Mail books to Books for Africa, who will sort and send them to areas experiencing book famine, or contact Books Behinds Bars to donate your paperbacks.
Help someone in your community keep warm by donating unworn winter wear to a coat drive - Burlington sponsors one annually across the country. You can even give items directly to your neighbors with Freecycle.
Virtual Donations
You can do good from the comfort of home! Donating online to a cause you care about is as easy as one search. Nonprofits almost always have a way to receive monetary donations on their website.
Want to vet an organization first? Use Charity Navigator to double check that your money goes somewhere inclusive and trustworthy.
Join or start a virtual food drive. Find your local food bank and look for tools on their website to help fundraise. Organizations like Utah Food Bank make it easy to get started!
Even airline miles can be put towards good - you can donate your accumulated points to help the Make-a-Wish Foundation with travel costs.
Clean the Outdoors
Get outside and help clean up the planet. This is as simple as heading to a park to pick up trash or raking leaves in the neighborhood (then using them for composting!).
Volunteer
The most valuable thing you can donate? Your time. Again, find a cause you’re passionate about - help kittens, help babies, help the homeless - and contact the respective organization about volunteering. Charity work runs on volunteers, but most organizations always need more help than they have.
Keep it Up
Yes, the holiday season should be about giving back, but consider keeping up your work year round. Donations and volunteers tend to dry up after the season’s end, but if we keep giving and keep doing good, we can reshape our communities, one step at a time.
For more ideas on giving back, check out our Pinterest!
