Thinking About Volunteering this Holiday Season?

Here are some options. . . .

 

Catholic Charities of Maryland

Appreciates those who are moved by the holiday spirit of giving. Here are some special holiday-related volunteer activities for you and your family. Remember the needs in our community do not end with the New Year. We welcome volunteers throughout the year. Please consider making volunteering with Catholic Charities your New Year’s resolution. 

·        Sponsor a needy family

·        Assist with a holiday party

·        Lead Christmas carols

·        Provide holiday musical entertainment

·        Conduct a group holiday activity (holiday art/crafts projects, cookie decorating, etc.)

·        Decorate a program facility

·        Help sort, organize, wrap and/or distribute gifts to clients

·        Photograph the holiday festivities

·        Help prepare and serve a holiday meal

·        Act as a “Shopping Elf,” assisting clients to pick out gifts from Christmas donations

·        Sponsor an outing activity for students on winter break from school

 For more information about Holiday Volunteering, call Patricia Newman at 410-547-5553 or email volunteer@cc-md.org

 

St. Vincent de Paul Society 

http://www.vincentbaltimore.org/PDF/holiday11.1.07.pdf

The PDF attached has a list of Volunteer Opportunities, In Kind donations you could collect as a parish or school community, service projects for families as well as where to send monetary donations      http://www.vincentbaltimore.org/

 

Catholic Relief Services asks us to “Shop Responsibly”

The daily decisions we make as consumers can make a real, positive difference in the world. The CRS Fair Trade Programs give you a concrete way to ensure poor artisans, farmers and workers overseas receive fair wages:

Fair Trade Coffee    http://www.crsfairtrade.org/coffee/

CRS established partnerships with 16 U.S. coffee companies that are committed to paying fair prices to coffee growers overseas and to sustaining direct, long-term relationships with them. When you and other American consumers buy coffee from these partners and other Fair Trade coffee companies, you get a quality product and help build a more just world.

Raise Money Right  http://www.crsfairtrade.org/chocolate/

What school, club or parish community doesn't need to raise money for its worthy activities? CRS' Raise Money Right program offers you a way to raise the money your organization needs by selling Fair Trade chocolate. With Raise Money Right, you can sell "Divine" chocolate made with 100 percent Fair Trade cocoa beans grown by farmers in Ghana.

Work of Human Hands  http://www.crsfairtrade.org/crafts/

Work of Human Hands gives Catholics in the United States the opportunity to buy high-quality, fairly traded handcrafts and gourmet food items from poor producers around the world. Host a Work of Human Hands sale as a community event or buy directly for yourself and your loved ones.

 

Think about National Opportunities Available

	Buy a holiday turkey for a family in Baton Rouge (home to thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees) for $25 at brfoodbank.org.
	Support the troops with warm socks, deodorant, Cheez-Its: Find their wish lists at anysoldier.com.
	Donate new blankets to kids in homeless shelters at projectnightnight.org.
	Help protect half an acre of rain forest in South and Central America with a $25 donation at rainforestalliance.org.
	Vaccinate 50 people around the world against deadly diseases such as meningitis, measles or polio with a $50 donation at doctorswithoutborders.org.
	Make a $10 donation to freethechildren.org and a special matching-funds program will turn it into $100 worth of medical supplies for kids around the world.
	Send an appropriate DVD or video game to hospital-bound kids via childsplaycharity.org.
	Staying home for the holidays? Donate frequent-flier miles to injured soldiers’ families at heromiles.org.
	Sell gifts you don’t need through eBay’s Giving Works program (givingworks.ebay.com), which earmarks a percentage of sales for the charities of your choice.
	Give blood (to find out where, go to givelife.org). What better reason to stop and lie down for 10 minutes?

 

List compiled from Catholic Charities, St. Vincent de Paul,

Catholic Relief Services and National List

from Glamour Magazine 11/2007 issue