Well, it is the week before Thanksgiving, and it seems to be the unofficial start of the giving season. People are starting to keep track of the things they are thankful for, and to consider ways to make sure others have something to be thankful for as well. It is the time of year when Jen and I would usually say to ourselves, "Boy, it has been a while since we donated or volunteered... We should get some food for a food drive or something..." This year is different, of course, thanks to Our Giving Year, but we still find ourselves even more interested in giving as this time of year comes around. We have a number of friends who want to volunteer with us, so we are booking multiple sessions each weeks in December, and we are realizing that we have some groups that we wanted to donate to, but may run out of weeks in which to do it, assuming we limit ourselves to a single year. (We are not, of course going to do that... Giving is now a habit for us and we will keep it up in the years to come.) The places we volunteer are also filling up with "seasonal" volunteers. I bring all this up only to point out a couple things:
First, now IS the time to give. It is cold, and the people who needed help before need even more now. And it is the time when we celebrate, in whatever way we choose, the solidarity of humankind. Now is the time of year when we are reminded that there is far more that unites us than divides us. This season shows us the struggle, the difficultly in loving our neighbors, and it shows us the rewards for doing so. We are given the bitter cold to remind us of loneliness and that solidarity is hard to achieve, and we are given the warmth of giving and receiving from our loved ones to remind us that it is worth striving for. The people Jen and I have met throughout our work this year are the ones who sometimes only feel the cold, the loneliness, the outside-ness. If you have any inkling to help these people, do it now so that they can get a measure of what the holidays are meant to bring - inclusion and warmth, both physical and spiritual.
The second thing is that we are winding down. There are only six weeks left in the year and so only six weeks left in Our Giving Year. As I mentioned above, we still have a lot to do and and plenty to report about after. We have stepped up to the season, and we are planning to visit pretty much all of our favorite places to work, as well as giving to a couple more organizations. It is going to be a fun, busy holiday season and a fitting end to this year long experiment. Jen and I are different people that when we started, and so in addition to describing our work in these last few weeks, I am also going to reflect a little on what we have learned and what it means for us in the future. I will try to keep these ramblings short, but it seems appropriate to examine where this journey has taken us.
Which bring us along to this week... This was a busy week at the theater, so it was a donation week for us. We struggled a little to find an organization to whom to donate because we are now bombarded by requests, as I have mentioned before. We know that we don't have a lot of weeks left, so we started talking about the holiday season and about organizations that have some meaning for us already. Jen brought up Toys for Tots. I have given to Toys for Tots before when I saw a toy drive going on, but I did not have a very personal connection to the group. Jen, it turns out, does.
When she was young, Jen has very clear and very fond memories of taking toys to a pickup site in on the south side of Chicago. Toys for Tots is run by the US Marine Corps, but is strongly supported by many of the motorcycle clubs here in Chicago. The clubs have Toys for Tots parades and toy drives, where they drive their bikes around, in full regalia, to collect toys and raise awareness. Jen has fond and funny memories of large, heavily bearded guys on Harleys driving around with teddy bears and dolls. For her, these memories are a part of the holiday season - a part of what Christmas means for her, and so she wanted to make sure we gave to them as part of this year.
So we did just that. They have a great website which allows you to donate to the organization as a national whole, or to Toys for Tots groups specific to your area. They are a 97%- 3% charity, which means that only 3% of the money received goes to administration and fund raising. The rest goes directly into buying and distributing toys. They collect new and unwrapped toys from October into December and then hand them out in time for Christmas. Their stated goals are:
"to help less fortunate children throughout the United States experience the joy of Christmas; to play an active role in the development of one of our nation’s most valuable resources – our children; to unite all members of local communities in a common cause for three months each year during the annual toy collection and distribution campaign; and to contribute to better communities in the future."
While we like to help people get enough to eat, at this time of year, we also like to help kids have a happier Christmas, so Toys for Tots was a natural choice.
For more information on Toys for Tots, click HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment