Rewards
The season of giving is here! The Holidays are full of opportunities to #DoDarnGood in your community and the world. From volunteering at homeless shelters to donating gifts to children, there are many ways in which you can give your time and resources during the most wonderful time of the year.
Stephanie Watson, Executive Editor of Harvard Women's Health Watch, highlights studies that show volunteering improves your mental health by warding off loneliness and depression via feeling socially connected. Stephanie also provides emerging evidence that volunteering is good for your physical health in ways such as preventing high blood blood pressure!
Here at Darn Good Yarn, we like to make a positive impact and to encourage others to do the same! If you're interested in making a difference for those in need this Holiday season, we have some ideas for you!
Volunteering Ideas
There are several types of organizations that regularly take on volunteers to help them serve and take care of the homeless, elderly, financially disadvantaged, or developmentally disabled. If there is a homeless shelter or soup kitchen in your town, contact them for more information on ways to help!
Other types of organizations that regularly take on volunteers include senior living centers, foster homes, food pantries, and centers for developmentally disabled adults.
Some common, nationwide organizations to look into are Meals on Wheels, ARC, and Feeding America.
Donation Ideas
Donating to those in need during the holidays can be as easy as dropping some change into the donation bin, or as involved as running your own donation drive to collect canned goods for your local food pantry.
During the Holiday season, there are several opportunities to donate money and Christmas gifts to children in need. Some examples include Toys for Tots, Operation Christmas Child, Covenant House, and Family Giving Tree. These drives and organizations provide Christmas gifts to children who are the victims of poverty, homelessness, and displacement.
Do some research of your own and find out what the homeless shelters, foster homes, and hospitals in your area are in need of! Donate toward a drive they already have running or start one of your own to help them out this Christmas!
Check out the ways that the Darn Good Yarn team and your support of Darn Good Yarn helps those in need year-round:
- Our ethical sourcing and diversified supply chain management allow each one of our sales to support meaningful and sustainable employment for women in India, Nepal, and the U.S.
- Darn Good Yarn provides stable employment for our artisans around the world with our amazing Yarn of The Month Subscription Boxes packed with handmade premium yarn!
- Working with Make-A-Wish to create the Make-A-Wish-Bundle, which is is the perfect way to get involved in sustainable crafting while supporting a great cause. With every purchase, Darn Good Yarn will donate 20% of the proceeds to the Make-a-Wish® Northeast New York Chapter!
- We're gathering funds for groups in our local community and beyond with our Do Darn Good Fund
- We're working on planting more trees around the world with our Plant 10 Trees for the Future option where you can trade in your karma points for more trees!
- Keep an eye out in 2023 for more #DoDarnGood products and features designed to directly support communities and people in need!
We hope that reading this has encouraged you to do good in your world and your community this season! Let us know about what you're doing to make a difference! Tag us on Instagram @darngoodyarn and use the hashtag #DoDarnGood with volunteering activities you're involved in!