Holiday Spirit

[Ghel]

This time of year, many of us are thinking even more than usual about giving, donating, and doing other nice things for people. Here's a place to brag about nice things you've done or nice things others have done for you this holiday season.

Every year, my work collects hats and mittens for local children. Most of them get donated to a local charity, who distributes them, and the rest end up at the school for any student who needs them. I had a bunch of polar fleece leftover from Halloween costumes (I always get too much), so I made about a dozen each hats and pairs of mittens. It took about 4 hours total to make them, but it's so worth it when I think about keeping little heads and fingers warm.

[csquared]

Personally, I think that everyone should support a charity or two, if not more. There are lots of good ones out there that need our help. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of shams and, shall we say, "poorly run" organizations that don't really help the people they say they do but do pay their CEO's handsomely. Do your research.

And there are so many ways you can help. You don't have to write a four figure check. Send them five dollars. I like the charities that take merchandise. The items you donate are more likely to get to the people and not an executive. And of course, you can always volunteer.

Ghel: That was good thinking with the fleece.

As for myself, click the sig line. For those of you in the Atlanta area, come on by.

[Crossbow]

Ok, I'll give you the latest from my office, and PPE can back it up.

Back in Oct. our office did a sock drive, since socks are the most requested item and least donated to homeless shelters. This was corporate-wide, so each location was collecting.
One of my co-workers actually had a smart idea. He checked online and found a place he could order socks wholesale. So instead of going to the local Walmart or big-box club and paying $1-$2 a pair or more, he was able to get socks for $.30 a pair.
He then went around to the other employees and collected cash donations (I was one of the contributors). So when the socks were finally delivered, we ended up taking four HUGE cases of socks up to the drive coordinator's office. The group ended up donating something like 4500 pairs.

[Pixelated]

Your coworker is amazing! That place will have socks for a couple of years!

In honour of the fact that I now have a sorta-liveable income (even if it does mean two jobs and a six-day workweek ... but hey, in four years I can apply for my Canada Pension!) I donated $20 to the local Humane Society the other day.

Okay. The whole story is, I got chocolates for that $20 (which will go towards feeding the animals at the HS). But it's still a donation.

[Android Kaeli]

Usually around this time I'll go and buy some stuff for the local animal shelter, stuff like food, blankets, and other things the shelter needs, then drop the stuff off on one of my off days. That's pretty much the only thing I do.

[Dreamstalker]

Mom and I will usually buy cat food on sale (if we can afford it, the good stuff), then donate that and assorted items like toys, treats, bowls, towels, etc to the local animal shelter.

[XCashier]

I bought a bunch of canned foods and donated them to the local food bank. I try to do that every month, but I've been a bit lax lately.

Usually around this time I'll go and buy some stuff for the local animal shelter, stuff like food, blankets, and other things the shelter needs, then drop the stuff off on one of my off days.

Speaking of animal shelters, if you've got old towels, you can donate them there. They make good animal bedding, and the animals don't care if there are hair dye stains or snags in the towels.

[Pixelated]

I bought a bunch of canned foods and donated them to the local food bank. I try to do that every month, but I've been a bit lax lately.

Speaking of animal shelters, if you've got old towels, you can donate them there. They make good animal bedding, and the animals don't care if there are hair dye stains or snags in the towels.

Good idea, although I hang onto my old towels to use when bringing my pets to the vet. They tend to, um, make their displeasure very noticeably known ... on my last visit, I'm pretty sure the staff had to take the carrier out back and hose it down.

A guy a few blocks up from me has enough lights on his house and property to blow the grid for blocks around on any given night. You drive up, tune your car radio to a specific station, and ... you can hear the music that the lights are timed to. He's got two huge bins (chained to the nearest power pole) for toys and food for local families. Plan to donate to both this year -- even though my current car's radio doesn't work!!

I did buy a lottery ticket from a local addiction treatment centre. Prizes are a couple of cars ... *crosses fingers*

The local Goodfellows were out selling their little "newspaper" (four pages ) this weekend so I bought ... I think four copies, LOL. They stand on the boulevards of major intersections for hours, so I figure I can spare a couple of bucks.

Aaaand ... I gave a small amount of cash to a guy sitting in the middle of a huge parking lot with a sign reading "Need help" ... *sigh* Yes, I know, I know ... will he use it for food? Booze? Drugs? Who knows? Certainly not me.

[Ghel]

mathnerd has a great example of holiday spirit over here!

Hopefully I'll have my own story to add to this thread, but it'll have to wait until after Christmas.

[Ghel]

In addition to some other things, my brother got me a refurbished iPhone 5 for Christmas! I was so happy, especially since my old 4S was finally dying. I now have a phone that works again!

[wolfie]

Hope you don't have too many 30 pin accessories to replace. Chargers are fairly simple, but if you've got a boombox that the phone sits on, there ARE adapters out there (30 pin "phone side" connector to plug into the boombox, Lightning "accessory side" connector that the phone plugs into). I've seen them at some local cellphone stores - if you can't find them around where you are, let me know and I can get the info about them (manufacturer and model number) - or maybe the local store could do a mail order.

[Ghel]

No, the only thing I needed was a charger, and he got me one of those.