calling all VOLUNTEERS
 

are you one? what are you plans for the holiday season

my kids and i volunteer for a group called FRIENDS OF RECOVERY, its an open house for 72 hours...food, coffee, information...we do it for Xmas eve until boxing day..and then again for New years day....

That sounds like a great way to volunteer! I help out at a food pantry and do assorted projects here at school, but I don't have anything planned for the holiday season when I'll be home on break.

:bump

I volunteered for years on a crisis line...have gone off the roster for a while to look after myself and my kids but, will get back to it in about a year I think! It's hard for me to think about doing too much during the holiday season except surviving and entertaining 5kids for almost two months! Argh! :)

We used to draw names for a gift exchange in my family (7 siblings, spouses, their kids -- 45 people in all.)

A couple of years ago, someone suggested we volunteer or do some act of charity in place of the gift exchange. It has been a lot of fun.

Last year my daughters and I shopped for a local 5 year old whose single mom gave us a wish list. We also bought gift wrap and let mom wrap the gifts to give her daughter.

The year before that we tried to do a gingerbread making day with kids at the local shelter, but they were already booked with volunteers, so the shelter asked for gift wrap and bows to wrap all the gifts that had been donated.

Before that we donated some of the girls' nicer stuffed animals to the local volunteer fire/ambulance crew to take on their emergency runs to give to little ones involved in scary situations.