X-mas for Others

S., I applaud you for caring heart and wanting to share it with others, I hope you find an avenue that will your Christmas wish to reality. Here a few thoughts to consider for your questions:

1. Check with your local police department or church, other service origanizations they have been doing this for years and have ways of finding those in need in your area.

2. On this topic something for you to consider: Please remember these families are having a hard time and asking for help is an extemely hard thing to do. There are alot of people right now who are having to ask for help that are used to being the ones doing the giving. Please consider their pride and privacy. While I totally understand your wish and the spirt behind your gift sometimes the better lesson to teach and experience is to give without receiving. In other words to give quietly and privately knowing in your heart that what you have done is going to make a difference. That that person or persons is going to know someone out there cared enough to give to them without knowing them.

If you would like your children to experience something more public perhaps these might be some ideas to consider:

Buying toys to take to a drop off for one of the large holiday toy collections that many of the non-profit groups have ie: channel 8 and Santa's Helpers there are many to choose from just the first to mind.

Going to a local mall that has an angel tree and getting angels off the tree buying the gifts and keep doing it till the money is gone.

Going around to local nursing homes and seeing if the have residents that don't have any family local or family at all and asking if it is ok if you bring them something and spend some time with them. They might be able to give you and idea of something they need or enjoy doing ie: someone who crochets or knits might enjoy some pretty new yarn, or one might need a new robe and slippers.
I know many of the food banks and even meals on wheels were starting to take dog and cat food because so many are unable to afford food for their pets. Now I know some may think this is a waste but if that's your only family or friend this is gift that keeps that family together.

I hope this helps to give you some ideas I am sure that you will get many others to help you along.

I know whatever you decide to do it will be with much love!

Merry Christmas!
M. B.

What a wonderful loving idea!

I would suggest first checking with your local church leaders to see if they know of any families who are currently struggling to get by and see if they can assist you in the project.

Second, I would suggest doing the entire thing a anonymously as possible. (And yes, video taping seems far too invasive and awkward for the receiving family and may send an unwelcome message of "Look at me! Aren't I wonderful?" The idea is not to focus on yourself by giving to others. Video taping would take away from this experience. To me, part of the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of giving without expecting anything else in return in similitude of how the Savior died for each one of us whether we accept him or not. And believe me, your children will remember the wonderful spirit they feel more strongly than any video taped recording can capture.

As a child, I remember participating with my mom in collecting food and household goods for a poor family in our small town a couple of times. Most of the time, we left a couple of filled boxes on their doorstep and then "ding-dong ditched" it. Another time, we sang "We wish you a merry Christmas when they answered the door, handed them the presents and left them to open the presents in privacy.

As a young adult, I had a bishop who ran a chritmas tree lot and arrange to have our young single adult group deliver free trees to families he knew of who couldn't afford Christmas trees. Again, we sang Christmas carols when delivering the trees and then left the families to themselves.

Every time was a wonderful, loving, touching, remarkable and memorable experience.

If you don't have a church leader you feel comfortable working with, you could also check with the local homeless shelters to see how many homeless children there are and what their needs may be.

Most importantly, listen to your heart, let God lead you, and you will do the right thing. Good luck, and have a wonderful Christmas!

Have you thought about doing the "Angel Tree" stuff? There are many children and teenagers who depend on this program to get any gifts for XMAS. It may even be tax-deductible for you. you could film your children picking up the tags off of the tree and then purchasing the items and turning them into the agency that distributes them. It is people like you that make that program a success! :) You may also check local churches to see if they have a family(ies) in need. I'm sure they do! What a wonderful "gift" for your children to experience this! good luck

Klty radio every year has a wish list for people to go and look through and make someone happy. I turned in a family years ago that were so desperate. They had no bedding and sleeping on the floor. I thought they would need a fry pan but he wanted a microwave.They got bedding and towels. It was awesome. This poor man trying to raise three kids as the wife left and he has no income to support even himself. I found out he can not read and was afraid for me to teach him. The kids were in rags and while he was at work his 13 yr old got raped by some Mexicans in the apartments where they had to live because they were poor. I have not seen him now in years but the kids were all rebelling and he worked really hard at work. The son got someone pg still in high school. Think about them at times but I just could not help more. It put me into financial trouble and could not help anymore. So there are a lot of people in need out there. Help with babysitting expenses or yard mowing or just plain food. Awesome for you to consider helping others it humbles us. I would get the whole family involved. My ex was a LTC and they helped people at Xmas. But what he found were people some times were rude. Like they took a tree with decorations and then and food and toys but the people wanted money for drugs or alcohol. So you never know. I would not tape it to embarrassing for them. God Bless G. W