Photo by Opensource

By: Noelle Di Perna

As the holiday season quickly approaches, so do holiday traditions. A well known recurring theme of the holiday season is gift-giving. This holiday season, if you are able to, you should give back to those who have not been as fortunate. Sadly, throughout the past years while fighting the grueling pandemic and the lockdowns that come with it, many working class families and citizens have lost their occupations and have lived on welfare or low paying jobs. Luxuries such as a holiday feast or gifts to their children are major expenses for jobless citizens. Despite many jobless citizens working hard to get back on their feet, if you are fortunate enough to donate it is definitely a good opportunity to help those in need. Furthermore, the holiday season can be an especially hard time for families with an ill child in the hospital. Those families lose the experiences of holiday dinners and family bonding experiences. In addition, caring for an ill child can become costly, making it hard for families to fund any sort of normal holiday experience. Overall, this season is about graciousness and giving back. It is important to recognize that outside of the bubble of the fortunate, there are those who only want food for dinner this Christmas. Now that the importance of donating is established, there are many great donation opportunities. For food donations, many local churches and shops have food donation bins to drop off canned goods. For a more hands-on experience, soup kitchens are always in need of volunteers, which is a way to give back if you do not have the financial means. Although nothing gives back lost time with their children, charities such as Make a Wish and SickKids donations allow families and ill children to have a somewhat normal holiday experience. There is even the option of donating funds virtually to a charity of your choice. There are a multitude of options available! So, this holiday season, help those who really need it, as just spreading the word of donating does lots as well!