Now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and SexyTime Saturday is over (oh sorry, did you miss that one? ;)), it’s time to get back to what this Thanksgiving time was REALLY supposed to be all about – giving, over getting.
So when my friend Nate told me about this new day that’s really taking off, I couldn’t pass on the chance to participate and help spread the good word even further. Saving money on deals and doodads and presents is totally awesome of course (what type of blogger/human is going to hate on that??), but if you have a few moments today, I’d love for you to hit pause and join us in celebrating thankfulness again for a little longer :)
But first, what exactly is #GivingTuesday? From their site:
“A new day for giving back. Just find a way for your family, your community, your company or your organization to come together to give something more [and] be a part of a national celebration of our great tradition of generosity.”
So, in a nutshell, it’s a day of giving back in a way that’s meaningful to you. It can be with time, money, thoughts, prayers, whatever you have to offer today that will add another drop of goodness in this fast-paced world of ours.
Here are some examples:
- Help a friend with a problem
- Donate a few dollars to your favorite charity
- Buy a stranger a cup of coffee
- Hug a stranger (this is fun, but please be safe ;))
- Help someone manage their money better (a perfect match?)
- Volunteer at a local shelter/organization
- Call someone you haven’t talked to in a while
- Write someone a real-life letter telling them how much they mean to you.
- Bring some food to the homeless in your area, or those on the streets
- Smile at everyone you cross paths with today – even those who look scary :)
- Tell your entire family/friends you love them.
There are a ton of easy – and do-able – things any of us can do the second we stop reading this post. And I REALLY encourage you to do so!
How I’ll be participating in #GivingTuesday
As for me, I’ll be partnering up with my bud Nate, GiveForward (an awesome fundraising site he works at), and dozens of other bloggers to help get Christian Hannah’s family a wheelchair van to enhance the quality of life for both him and his family. At only 14 y/o, Christian has cerebral palsy and cannot feed or dress himself, nor can he walk or talk. It’s completely heart wrenching :(
This is Christian:
And here’s a clip from his fundraising page:
Christian Hannah is 14-years-old and was born with cerebral palsy. He cannot feed or dress himself nor can he walk or talk. Christian is now approximately 5′ long and weighs around 65 pounds. His mother, Janet, has been lifting him in and out of his wheelchair and into his car seat for transporting for over 14 years. She herself is only 4’11” and when she picks him up Christian’s feet touch the ground. Their current van is a 2003 Honda with over 131,000 miles and is in need of numerous repairs. Christian’s younger 10-year-old brother is now tall enough and strong enough to help their mother load and unload the wheelchair but this is a heavy burden and not a responsibility a young child should have to bear. This is done 3-4 times a day when you consider loading and unloading to school, doctors appointments, shopping, etc. since as a divorced working parent she cannot leave either of the boys alone to run errands. The daily routine includes changing diapers, spoon feeding Christian his baby food twice a day, waking up with him in the middle of the night, etc… Just being able to leave Christian in his wheelchair and wheel him in the van would eliminate one large burden of their every day routine.
At the time of this writing, they’re a little under the halfway point of hitting the $38,000 needed.
Giving means a lot of different things to people
Giving means a lot of different things to people, but I encourage you from the bottom of my heart to take a break from life’s madness today and *DO SOMETHING* to help your fellow community. It can be as small, or as big, as you want – it doesn’t matter. Taking the time to *ACT* today does.
So whether it’s a dollar or a phone call, please take the time to give back and appreciate everything life has given you. Like my friend currently waiting on a heart transplant, you just never know how many days we have left on this Earth, so better to fill it up with as much love and kindness as we can offer. Money is great, but life is better.
How will you be celebrating #GivingTuesday?
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Thanks for the hearty morning chuckle with that first sentence.
What a beautiful concept, especially after all our self-indulgence between Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Money! I’m particularly fond of acts of kindness being included instead of just straight out giving money — as some folks don’t have funds to give.
My prayers continue to be with your young friend Christian and his family. His mother sounds incredibly strong, in more than the traditional sense.
Acts of kindness and prayers most definitely count :) Anytime we hit pause to think or help someone makes this world more beautiful in my opinion!
This is great!
Poor guy. I know that specialty vans are expensive and I hope that they get enough cash raised. What a huge blessing for their family.
Me too :( We’ll see how much that tracker moves over the next few days – hopefully we can nudge it to the end and they’ll get the van soon! Can’t even imagine what they’re going through… so sad.
J, I love your expansive definition of giving — it doesn’t require us to just give $$, but to give time and thoughtfulness too.
Yup! It’s more about taking the time to *think* about someone else, and then figuring out how you can best help before you forget/lose track and move onto something else ;)
This is awesome J! I’ve heard of this in prior years, but never seen something truly tangible about it. I think some think they can’t give because they don’t have a ton of money, but really, you can give quite a bit and not cost you a lot to do so.
Those specialty vans are crazy expensive and hopefully the cash can be raised soon enough to make things a bit easier on Christian and his family.
I hope so too… looks like it’s moved up about $1,000 since yesterday, but still a ways away :(
This is MY black friday. Thanks for this post
(awwwwww)
I will be working on a fundraiser for the nonprofit animal rescue I work with. We just had a mama dog (who was beaten in an alleyway) give birth to two puppies. Our medical expenses are going to be insane so today’s an important fundraising day for us!
Oh no!!!! I hope you raised the money you needed! That’s so sad :(
Hmm this is the first time I heard of Giving Tuesday. I like it! I’ll have to reflect on this a bit to see what I want to do. Perhaps donate to the Philippines for disaster relief. It’s a very nice way to end the weekend filled with shopping and craziness!
I hope you did! :)
Can we all agree to make EVERY Saturday Sexy Time Saturday? lol – or better yet… every Tuesday a Giving Tuesday! Or both!
What a great idea though! I got an unexpected gift today as well, so I guess it’s my turn to pay it forward!
DEAL! Only 3 more days to go until our next #SexySaturday!!!
I LOVE this idea, J! What a perfect way to bring us back to the real reason for the season after the Black Friday/Cyber Monday madness. I will be making a donation to my local animal rescue this afternoon – and will be sending positive vibes to both your friends in need.
Hooray!! I’m glad you’re participating in a way that’s meaningful to you :) Those local animals are going to be so happy!
Thanks for sharing! We’ll definitely do what little we can to help move that van along :)
Appreciate that :) Money aside, even sharing the link around can help. Never know how it’ll affect others out there…
True! I’ve realized that having a blog is a great way to be an influencer.