12 Months of Giving: Simple Ways Busy Families Can Help Others

INSIDE: Discover 12 simple, meaningful ways to give back to those in need all year long. Easy monthly ideas for families, kids, and busy lives.

Several years ago I started something I thought was going to be AMAZING! 2 months in…..everyone’s world collapsed. We were separated by at least 6 feet, 15 minutes, and GOD help you if you had a cough. COVID is still around but we are so much more knowledgeable about how to treat this thing.

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Anyway, my idea was 12 months of giving. Clean out your house and give to those in need. Turns out everyone did that because that was all some of us had TO do. Goodwill stores were overflowing, animal shelters were empty. Which is amazing but the ones of us still working were so exhausted we couldn’t find time to do any of these things.

SO my proposal is this – try it again.

Healthcare workers, grocery store clerks, gas station attendants, groomers, bankers, and lets not forget our liquor store workers. Y’all kept me sane through all this. BUT now I challenge you to clean out your closets, pantries, cabinets, and donate to the folks that need it.

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Here is the original post – 12 months of giving.

I don’t want to re-create the wheel here, so I’m just going to keep it similar, change somethings cause…well time changed some things.

This will be our outline –

• January – Food
• February – Clothing
• March – Towels
• April – Books/Food
• May – Toys
• June – Kitchen items
• July – Personal hygiene items
• August – Clothing
• September – Home decor
• October – Warm jackets/blankets
• November – Food
• December – Toys/books

Some of these things have changed for various reasons. BUT we will stick to the main idea of each of these months.

January, April and November – Food

Using the Food Pantries website, you can find any state and city you want.

There are nationwide food banks that have local chapter or online donation options, such as Feeding America, Meals on Wheels, World Central Kitchen, and No Kid Hungry.

February and August- Clothing

This website can help you find local and nationwide donations centers – Money Crashers.

A few of my favorites are One Warm Coat, Soles4souls, and your local homeless shelters.

March – Towels

This is not rocket science. Old towels – thin? rips? too many? not your style anymore? Give them away.

Who would want old towels? Lots of people. My personal favorite is animal shelters.

Want to find a No Kill Shelter to donate to – check out Best Friends to find one near you.

Another place that will take your towels is homeless shelters. Not sure where those are near you. No problem – HUD (U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development) can help you find one.

April – Books

Believe it or not there are SOOOO many places to donate books. No book is to small or too great.

1. Local Libraries – when you donate to a library, they can keep it in their collection, sell it to help fund the library, or give it away (if it isn’t something they can use, they will donate it to Goodwill or some place like that.)
2. Family Outreach – If you Google “family outreach in my area,” a lot of options will pop up. These are the type of places that help with foster care, family centered organizations, and my direct you to a good place to donate your books.
3. Operation Paperback – Paperback books for our troops to read while fighting to defend our FREEDOM! This is a little tricky – you might have to sign up to send the books yourself. But think of the difference it will make to those soldiers!
4. Books to Prisoners – While the criteria is very specific, it is a great way to assist those in need. Plus they will take reference books that other places won’t.
5. Vietnam Veterans of America – Through their Pick Up Please site, you can donate all sorts of things to our Veterans. Clothing, books, toys….
6. Local daycare centers and after school programs – Check with your favorite place to see if they have a need or accept gently used books

May and December – Toys

Dust gathering on those “I have to have this” toys? Me either….I was asking for a friend.

Twice a year, we go through our toys, decide what we still play with and donate the rest. I am always impressed by what the kids are willing to part with.

Some of our favorite places to donate:

• Habitat for Humanity Restore – you can donate to the national chapter or your local chapter.
• Ronald McDonald House – your local chapter has a list of things it will accept, so make sure to check there first.
• Your local foster care or residential house for homeless youth – in SC we have a DSS website that gives lists and an email to the person responsible for arranging your donation.
• Salvation Army – there are thousands of local chapters and Thift Stores.

June – Kitchen items

Think dishes, silverware, small appliances, pots and pans.

We aren’t going repeat the same charitable donation option with each month of giving because the same places accept all donations. Salvation Army, Habitat Restores, Goodwill and local non-profits.

For this one we will add Furniture Bank Network. I don’t have one near me, but maybe you do. If you don’t, stick to the normal places.

July – personal hygiene items

Do you have 35 scents of lotion from Bath and Body that you will never wear again? Shampoo that made your hair frizzy? Me too……so I take all of these things to my local shelter.

September – Home Decor

Pictures, lamps, pillows….you know the stuff.

Again, Habitat Restores, Salvation Army, and Goodwill will take these items.

However, we have a local organization that helps people find low income housing and, many times, keeps them out of the shelter or from being homeless. It is called ECHO – Eastern Carolina Housing Organization. I donate my home goods to them, as they give the items to people who literally have nothing.

There are pick up donation sites that might be available to you as well. Here is a reputable website that is available in large cities.

October – Blankets and Jackets

In some places it starts getting cold around October. I live in the south…..ummmm….we call our weather waffling. It will be 35 degrees one day and the next 75…..so while we may not need warm jackets for 6 months, we need them sometimes.

Therefore, our jackets are gently used.

One Warm Coat is an amazing organization that partners with retailers all over the country to get the donated items to those in need.

I would like to give a special nod to another organization that does amazing things for the communities it calls home. MOD Pizza. If you don’t have one, I’m sorry. These folks actually host a coat drive for kids and give the “reward” to the child donating the jacket.

And of course the usual places apply here.

When giving blankets, think about the people who need them most. Homeless or unhoused people, depending on who you talk to. Donating these to homeless and/or domestic violence shelters are where you can make the biggest impact.

Another idea is animal shelters. Some types of comforters or filled blankets should NOT be given to animal shelters. As you can imagine, stuffing that is eaten must come out……I’ll leave that there.

OK, let’s get this thing started…..FIRST put Christmas away.

Start somewhere,