Acts of charity connect you with your fellow humans in a way that few other things can. Giving back to the community is something that makes you feel good to be alive. The spirit of giving typically hits its apex during the holidays, but it can be incorporated into our personal lives throughout the year. Beyond personal giving to friends and family on birthdays, anniversaries and major holidays such as Christmas, giving to your community on a regular basis can be equally rewarding.
At Lice Lifters of Harrisburg, we understand the power of giving. For this reason, we’d like to share with you a few ways you can give back while giving gifts to your loved ones.
Donate to a Charity in a Loved Ones’ Name
Instead of giving that special someone yet another sweater or tie for their birthday or during the holiday season, you might want to give the money to a charity in their name. It should, of course, be a charity helping or promoting a cause that you know they believe in. You do need to be careful, however, since not all charities are alike. There are organizations such as Charity Watch and Charity Navigator that look into charities in terms of their financial health, transparency and accountability, so you’ll know that a maximum percentage of your dollars are truly going to the good cause they purport to help.
Consider a Charity Gift Card in Place of a Store Card
You’ve undoubtedly received your share of Walmart, Starbucks or Amazon gift cards over the years and have appreciated them. If you want to give back with your gifting this year, you might try giving a charity gift card. There are companies, such as Global Giving or TisBest, that enable the card recipient to choose the charity that they’ll donate the money on the card to. As much as they might love shopping on Amazon, perhaps they’d enjoy giving to a charity trying to save the Amazon even more. As with a regular store gift card, this also takes the pressure off you in terms of you having to figure out which charity to donate money to in their name.
Gift Your Time
Perhaps money is tight. You may be living on a fixed income or have many bills to pay and can’t afford to add to them too much for gift giving. Donating your time by volunteering for a charity that your giftee cares about can also be very helpful. One thing every charity needs is volunteers to actually make the organization run on a day-to-day basis. Most charities want there to be as few paid positions in the organization as possible, so a maximum amount of incoming money can go to the cause. Volunteers are critical for this.
How Lice Lifters Gives Back
At Lice Lifters of Harrisburg, we believe in giving back to our community in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. We regularly donate gift baskets to raffles set up by the community. As experts in the field of head lice treatment, we routinely speak at PTO meetings to give parents and schools tips and advice about preventing and handling head lice infestations. We also host booths at health fairs and other local events, and all of this is just the tip of the iceberg.
However you give back during the holidays or any other time of the year, take the time to enjoy the warm feeling it gives you. There are people in need in our community, country and the world. As an individual or a business, we have the power to change the world by giving back to our communities in the name of those we love.
