Holiday Volunteering
During the holiday season, the disparity between prosperity and poverty often proves its most stark. While some celebrate, others pray for the barest of essentials. For children, explaining this disparity can be as difficult as any coming-of-age discussion. Volunteering during the holidays can be a wonderful example of the spirit of giving and volunteerism for us all.
The opportunities listed below, and many more, can be found on the Get Connected Volunteer Portal. With so many eager to volunteer during the holidays, holiday opportunities can fill up weeks or even months in advance.
Try one of these local organizations with holiday opportunities:
Christmas for the City, SECU Family House, Fairytale Farm Animal Sanctuary, H.O.P.E. Dealers Outreach, Gateway Nature Preserve, The Salvation Army, Sistas4Change, Novant Health, Gift Mart, Cycle Recycle, Open Arms Community, NC Cooperative Extension, American Red Cross, Crisis Control Ministry
If these opportunities are already filled or do not interest you, you can always create your own!
7 Ideas to Create Your Own Holiday Volunteer Opportunity
1. Make Homemade Holiday Cards
The Meals on Wheels Program will include your homemade holiday cards in deliveries to seniors in our community. Please be considerate of different cultures and beliefs when crafting your cards.
Call (336) 721-6910 to arrange to drop off your creations.
Other potential sites include your local nursing homes, fire departments, police departments, homeless shelters, and hospitals. Please reach out to a location before creating or delivering cards. Meals on Wheels has already been contacted, but you would need to make the connection and receive permission from other sites.
Check out the links below for a few ideas on how to get started crafting your own handmade holiday cards!
How To Readable:
33 DIY Christmas Card Ideas
https://www.countryliving.com/diy-crafts/how-to/g3872/christmas-card-ideas/
50 DIY Christmas Cards
https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/holidays-celebrations/g34509330/diy-christmas-cards/
How To Watchable:
34 DIY Holiday Cards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCb4_S7E_PU
Making Cards Using Scraps!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apwOX-ZJ4s8
2. Start a Food Drive
Host a Holiday Party Food ‘Sculpture’ Effort
During any or all your upcoming holiday parties, ask guests to bring nonperishable items and create a “sculpture” out of the canned goods. Take a picture and share it with us to be included on the site! Then disassemble and donate the goods to the Second Harvest Food Bank or your local food pantry.
Second Harvest suggests that peanut butter, canned goods (soup, fruit, vegetables, stew, fish, beans), pasta (whole grain preferred), and rice (brown rice preferred) are ideal.
Virtual Food Drive
Host a Virtual Food Drive for the Second Harvest Food Bank. Without ever leaving your home, you can reach out to family and friends to purchase food that will be delivered directly to Second Harvest on your behalf!
Start a Local Food Drive
Try this guide provided by Feeding America if you are interested in a larger, community-wide effort.
3. The Giving Box
https://www.doinggoodtogether.org/bhf/create-a-giving-box
Create a Giving Box and fill it with your family’s donations. Once full, or as the year is ending, decide together where to donate. Send us a picture of your Giving Box, the name of your chosen charity, and a paragraph or two about why this charity is meaningful to your family, and we’ll include it on the site! Contact us here.
How To Watchable: https://youtu.be/nxWsLkHwHUw
4. Foster a Pet
Not sure if owning a pet is a good idea or not? Or if your kids are ready? Take this opportunity to both help an animal in need and see if pet ownership is a good fit for your family!
https://forsythhumane.org/foster/
From the site: Foster care is typically a 2 – 4 week commitment unless the animal has a special need. All supplies and medical care are provided. Please consider fostering a dog or cat for Forsyth Humane Society. It’s easy to get started and our foster team will work to pair you with an animal that fits your lifestyle!
5. Toys for Tots
Donate Toys Directly
Shop for toys to donate as a family, then drop them off at 3010 Healy Drive Suite 100 (Stratford behind Flow Automotive) between 9 am and 5 pm.
Have Your Workplace Become a Drop Site
Apply to have where you work to become a drop site.
https://winston-salem-nc.toysfortots.org/local-coordinator-sites/lco-sites/donate-toys.aspx
6. Small Acts of Kindness
In the movie Pay It Forward, 11-year-old Trevor has an idea to perform three acts of kindness for others who then do the same in a perpetual chain of kindness. A wonderful yet sad movie, the importance of kindness and its potential to perpetuate can cause even the smallest acts to have a disproportionately large impact.
For inspiration, check out PracticeKindness.org, or for a list of ideas visit https://pursuitofitall.com/25-small-holiday-acts-of-kindness/.
7. Make a New Year's Resolution to Volunteer Year-Round
With so many eager to volunteer during the holidays, we sometimes forget how much need persists throughout the rest of the year. During the holidays, spend time with your family checking out nonprofit organizations on your local volunteer portal. Then, make plans to volunteer after the New Year when opportunities are more abundant yet more frequently unfilled. Make it a New Year’s Resolution for the whole family!
