Christmas is not just a time for joyous celebration and feasting on delicious food but also to share your love and blessings with those around you. As Christmas celebrations get more varied year after year, we sometimes get caught up in the presents, decorations and partying, and forget about the true essence of the holy season.
With Christmas 2019 just around the corner, how about getting a little more spiritual this year and share your blessings with the community? Remember that as long as it is sincerely from the bottom of your heart, there is no deed too small.
- Baked goods
Delicious baked pastries and cakes are a blessing in itself, so why not share this blessing with as many people as you can! You can whip up a large batch of muffins, cupcakes, pound cake, cookies or brownies and give it to your neighbors or bring it over to your local homeless shelter.
- Visit a nursing home
Elderly folk in nursing homes may not have the luxury of spending Christmas with their loved ones as they may not have any relatives or friends visiting them. Spread the joy and love by visiting your local nursing home and spending some time with the elderly this holiday season. You can also cook for them so that they can enjoy some homemade food and a little gift will definitely brighten up their Christmas as well.
- Donate clothes to the needy
How much of what you have in your closet do you actually wear regularly? Instead of letting that floral dress you bought 5 years ago collect dust in the corner of your closet, why not donate it to someone who actually needs it? Here is a list of organizations in the Philippines that you can bring your pre-loved clothing to, to pay it forward and bless others in need.
- Precious Heritage Ministries Foundation, Inc.
www.preciousheritagechildren.org
Donations collected will be passed onto the less privileged children in the country and you can visit their headquarters in Santa Cruz, Manila or orphanage in Antipolo City. If you are looking to do more than just contribute with a donation, you can contact them to arrange an outreach session with the children at their orphanage.
- Citizen’s Disaster Response Center
The clothing that you donate to the Citizens’ Disaster Response Center will be repackaged and sent to victims of disasters such as fires, floods and earthquakes as part of their Emergency Response Work Program. In addition to clothes, they also accept food like canned goods, bottled water and rice, kitchen utensils and medicine.
- Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation
www.tzuchi.org.ph/how-to-help/donation
Donations can be dropped at the foundation’s offices in Manila, Zamboanga City and Cebu but do take note to give them a call before heading down.
- Volunteer at an animal shelter
Your blessings shouldn’t be limited to your fellow human beings, how about showing some love to our fur friends as well? If you are in a position where you can provide a loving home for a dog or cat, it will be the best type of blessing you can pass to another living being, but if you are unable to, you can simply volunteer at an animal shelter to care for the animals living there. Here is a list of animal shelters in the Philippines where you can spread the love.
- Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS)
- Compassion And Responsibility For Animals (CARA)
- Animal Kingdom Foundation (AKF)
www.animalkingdomfoundation.org
- Help a struggling friend/family in need
Is there anyone in your circle of friends and family who is going through a difficult time right now? Be it a messy divorce, retrenchment from a job, illness, death in their family or even just that they are going through a low point in their life, reach out to that person and let them know that you are available to them if they need a listening ear, some company this Christmas, or if there is any other thing that you can help them with. There is no greater blessing than to provide assistance to someone who is struggling and who may feel lonely in their life. Remember that even just by sending them a simple text message asking how they are may go a long way in pulling them out of their slump.
These are just a few examples of how we can shine our light to someone this coming holiday season. For Suntrust, it launched an eight part outreach program which included each and every one of its employees to be able to reach out to more people. Like Klaus said; “a true act of kindness, always sparks another”.
