Unique Ways to Get Involved and Give Back to Your Community This Christmas

Every year it seems like consumerism is on the rise, with big box stores setting up their holiday light display earlier and earlier in the season. Christmas is more than building wish lists of gifts you’d like to receive; it’s also a time to take a step back and discover what you can do to help your friends, family, and neighbors.

A great way to show your appreciation for others is to get involved by giving back to your community. Charitable giving and volunteering your time to support nonprofits and local organizations is a great way to help the less fortunate. 

Read on to discover four unique and creative ways you can help your community this Christmas. 

Preparing and Delivering Holiday Meals

Seniors and people with physical limitations often face challenges when it comes to cooking for themselves or leaving their homes to buy groceries. Food insecurity affects people across the United States, with many families worried they couldn’t afford to buy enough food to create a healthy and delicious Christmas dinner. 

Check with organizations near you to ask how you can get involved with food drives, meal delivery programs, and similar community initiatives helping to curb the fight against hunger. Top ways to give back to the community at Christmas and help the less fortunate in your area include:

• Delivering holiday meals and meal kits to shut-ins through programs like Meals on Wheels
• Spending an afternoon or evening serving meals to those in need at your local homeless shelter, food bank, or food pantry
• Volunteering your time to help cook and prepare holiday meal boxes with groups like the Big Heart Brigade
• Adopting a family for Christmas and providing for their special needs through monetary, toy, and food donations  

Also, it’s always a good idea to call the community group before showing up to work. Many organizations require you to attend a volunteer orientation training session if this is your first time working for them. 

Volunteer at Local Animal Shelter

Who doesn’t love spending time with dogs, cats, bunnies, and other fur babies? Volunteering to work at your local animal shelter is another great way to give back to the community. 

Many shelters are crowded, understaffed, working with a very tight operating budget, or run by a nonprofit group. As a result, animal rescue groups are always looking for help keeping the shelter running smoothly, especially during the busy holiday season.

Reach out to your local animal shelter or animal rescue league to ask how you can help with things like:

• Planning a special fundraising event
• Working as a greeter in the visitor center
• Operating their booth at the next adoption drive
• Bringing in new blankets, animal crates, collars, and leashes
• Making donations of wet food, dry food, and treats 
• Fostering shelter rescues to get them ready for adoption
• Adopting a cat, dog, or other shelter animal
• Driving to natural disaster areas to help with abandoned animal rescue efforts

Many shelters offer a Seniors for Seniors Program, which helps match senior citizens with senior dogs. Ask your local shelter how you can get involved in this volunteer-supported visitation program that provides companionship for people 60 and over through the unconditional love of animals. 

Visit Assisted Living Facility 

Seniors living in retirement homes often experience loneliness as they might be living far from friends and family. Help make their holiday season a little brighter by scheduling a time for a visit. Dropping off holiday cards on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day is sure to bring a smile to their face.

You can make the occasion extra special by bringing out all your favorite craft supplies, decorative papers, crayons, markers, and watercolors and creating homemade Christmas greetings. Card making may even turn into a new holiday tradition as a fun activity to enjoy with your family. 

Once the cards are complete, finish them with a special holiday message, then reach out to your local retirement center or nursing home and arrange a time to stop by. After dropping off the cards, stick around for an hour or two and visit with the residents. You can play cards, work on building a puzzle or simply let them share their family photo album as they reminisce about the past. 

Support Our Customer Donation Program

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) is a nonprofit organization focused on revolutionizing blood cancer cures and care through ongoing research, patient aid programs, support groups, and more. There are many ways to get involved with LLS and help raise much-needed funds for blood cancer research, including their Team in Training, Light The Night, and Man & Woman of the Year campaigns. 

This year Sealed By Santa (SBS) is partnering with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through their Customer Donation Program. This retail campaign allows customers to support the society by clicking on a donation button after they make a purchase on the SBS website. 

Sealed By Santa is a Shark Tank approved business helping to keep the holiday magic in homes for over ten years. This family-owned company specializes in personalized Christmas gifts, including Letters From Santa, Portable North Pole Santa Videos, Live Santa Calls, and much more.