Like many singles, if you find yourself alone this holiday season and away from family, consider volunteering. It is an old idea, but one that bears emphasizing, especially in the dark economic times we are in. Which organizations should you sign up for? You have your Red Cross and other well-known organizations that have the funds to advertise their need of volunteers for the holiday season. This is great for them. However, there are the smaller or local organizations that rely less on advertising in the media sense and more on word of mouth. These are the ones you should look into for a day or two of volunteering.
For instance, I came across an article about an organization in London, Crisis Open Christmas that was urgently looking for volunteer dog handlers to care for pets of the homeless. In every big city, homelessness is a major problem and seems to escalate around the holidays. Perhaps that is when we take more notice of people who are freezing in the streets. You have probably seen a homeless person with a cat or a dog or several pets with them on the street. Check with your local animal shelter (or the ASPCA) or homeless shelter to see about such a volunteer opportunity. On a related note, many displaced folks who unfortunately lost their homes this year to foreclosure probably had to give up their pets due to financial hardship. Either way, the animal shelters will probably be overflowing during the holiday season. Of course, if you could allocate a day a month to caring for an animal in a shelter, this would be even better.
Find local volunteer opportunities:
Make A Wish - Enter your zip code to locate a chapter near you. They offer a questionnaire of sorts to identify the areas where you could help (languages you speak, office skills, event planning skills, etc).
Volunteer Match - This site will help locate local charities that are in need of volunteers during the holidays and beyond. Again, it is as easy as entering your city or zip code.
ServeNet - Same set up as Volunteer Match.
Local charities, shelters, crisis centers, soup kitchens, youth and senior communities are some further areas in need of volunteers that are likely listed with the above volunteer databases.
Are you a natural event planner or team leader? Then consider The Holiday Project, a national non-profit organization of volunteers who visit with people spending Christmas, Chanukah and other holidays throughout the year confined in nursing homes, hospitals, prisons and other facilities. It features a start-up kit that shows you how to set up a visit to a local center in need.
In New York, there is New York Cares, a wonderful organization that has projects all throughout the year in schools, community centers, and shelters. I believe they have sister cities throughout the U.S., but I could not locate this info from the website.
Perhaps you are working Christmas Eve but are off Christmas Day and cannot travel home to your family. Take the time now to plan how you will spend the holidays if you will be away from family and probably some friends as well, since they might go home. It will be a bleak holiday for many people adversely affected by the sluggish economy. They will welcome any cheer.
For more information about the organizations mentioned above and their direct links, visit Kris Kringle For Singles.
Article by Stephanie Enza
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