NBC29Unique ways to give thanks

Unique ways to give thanks

By Patricia Berry
 

You’ve ordered the Thanksgiving turkey and drawn up a menu. What’s missing? Maybe a helping of goodwill. For many families, giving back has become as important as giving thanks. Here, five ways to involve your kids in acts of kindness bound to make them -- and others -- feel good.

No. 1: Ask Guests for Gifts

Many hands make light work of bringing much-needed goods to the homeless. This Thanksgiving, invite guests to bring along blankets, towels, soaps, toothbrushes and nonperishable food. Children can distribute donations evenly in shopping bags, which they can help deliver to a nearby shelter. Last year, B.Z. Smith of Sonoma, Calif., invited 75 guests for a holiday housewarming and asked them to bring donations. “We have everything we need,” she says, “but we know that many in our community do not.” The day after their party, the Smiths delivered two carloads of supplies to their local shelter.

No. 2: Plan Playtime at a Shelter

For families in temporary need of housing -- say, after a fire or job loss -- the national Interfaith Hospitality Network provides shelter and food. When her church houses families, Barb Insolia of Nutley, N.J., and her daughters donate dinner and entertain the children so their mothers can take some downtime. “My girls bring arts-and-crafts projects, and the kids always want to make something -- even the boys,” she says. “You don’t want to press the kids about their hardships, so the conversation is very light. But I’ve noticed the children tend to draw their feelings on paper. It’s amazing.”

No. 3: Select and Support a Small Business

Recently, Mike Johnson’s two boys took an interest as their dad browsed through Wokai, a micro-lending Web site that distributes donations as loans to struggling entrepreneurs in China. Contributors can explore a wide variety of people and needs on the site and give a minimum donation of only $10. Johnson, of Pittsford, N.Y., set out to donate a small sum of money. “I never intended to make investing a family activity,” he says, “but the boys were really curious about the people and their businesses. They find it really exciting to decide who we should help.”

No. 4: Pass Paperbacks Along

With your kids at home for the four-day break, use the time to go through their bookshelves. R.E.A.C.H. a Child, which operates in 13 states, collects children’s books and delivers them to those in hospitals, shelters or other types of crisis refuges. In keeping with the recycling theme, replenish your kids’ library with a trip to the secondhand bookstore.

No. 5: Extend an Extra Invitation to Your Holiday

As you prep for the holidays, look beyond your usual guest list. Just as you hope others are doing for your long-distance loved ones, reach out to the elderly neighbor who lives alone or the young co-worker who’s just relocated. People without a holiday destination won’t necessarily advertise their lack of plans, so listen up for clues. If possible, have your children draw an invitation and deliver it in person. That way, your kids will see firsthand just how much their kindness means.

Patricia Berry is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Working Mother, This Old House, New Jersey Life and The New York Times.

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