Giving Tuesday -December 1st

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world," wrote Anne Frank in her diary in 1944.

We all know the WHY we should get involved, but the WHAT and the HOW are can be more challenging to figure out on your own, so here are some easy, quick, and meaningful ways to get involved in giving during the holidays. Many recent Facebook posts on Scarsdale Moms and Westchester Moms ask about how one might participate in charitable work here in Westchester over the holidays. Some want to include their children in doing good deeds during the holiday season.

A mom of two in Edgemont works hard throughout the year to keep her kids involved in charitable work. "Every child is different," she said. "I take my son to volunteer because he is eager to help and serve and others. He enjoys it. I take my daughter to volunteer because while she can be kind when she chooses to be, she often puts herself first and is not eager to share or care for others." This mom told me that she continues to involve her daughter in volunteer work so she can learn how good she has it, and how good it can feel to help others. "As she gets older," she added, "I will continue to make a point of including it and requiring it from her."

Here's the low-down on some good deed opportunities in the Scarsdale area.

Donate Money or Items
A Quaker Ridge mom of two does the same thing we do during Chanukah and it can be done for Christmas or birthdays as well. One night, their gift is a gift of money that goes to a charity to which they would like to donate. My kids are 5 and 7 so we have always helped them figure out a cause that is important to them. My daughter loves animals (and dolphins especially), so last year she donated to the Clearwater Aquarium in Florida (home of the tail-less dolphin from Dolphin Tales 1 and 2.) My son loves soccer and we found a charity that brings soccer equipment and training to impoverished communities in the U.S. and abroad. For her birthday, my daughter asked friends to donate pet items which she gave to a local shelter. She certainly got something out of this because they let her play with the animals and wrote her a beautiful thank you note, and now she wants to do the same for her birthday this year. Bringing her to the shelter really helped her see that she was helping the animals. Be sure to check out a site like www.charitynavigator.org before you donate money.

Jen Premisler, a Quaker Ridge mom oftwo sons (ages 5 and 2) has found a wonderful way to bring charity into her home. "It started three years ago when our family was talking about Chanukah and what the kids needed or wanted; it occurred to us that our kids didn't have a true need for anything. I don't apologize for that," she continued, "but I think our boys should understand what other kids may feel during the holidays. Instilling a sense of community responsibility in them was important to us." Jen started a Chanukah tradition: one night her boys would not receive a gift but rather give a gift to a child that would otherwise not receive one. "We wanted the gift to be donated to a child locally so it was related to our community responsibility," she said. "They come shopping with me for the gift and we donate it." The first year they found a local place for gift donation but quickly realized that others wanted to participate as well. Jen found a way on her own to partner with Grace Church and Lifting Up Westchester. "My partner there, Nancy Inzinna, has been amazing throughout this journey," she said. Last year, she put a post on Facebook about what they were doing and encouraged others to join resulting in 30 families donating over 50 gifts. This year over 80 donated gifts have been promised by families in the Scarsdale community. "Lifting Up Westchester supplies the wish list from kids at the shelter and who are a part of their after school program," Jen said. "We bring the gifts to Lifting Up Westchester during Chanukah. Families that have donated gifts come with us so that kids can see what it looks like to bring this many gifts and give them away. One night of Chanukah we talk about how we donated and delivered the gifts when we light the candles. Contact Jen at jen.premisler@gmail.com if you'd like to see an underprivileged child's wish list and donate a gift.

Leslie Chang, a Scarsdale mom, is a board member with Family Services of Westchester  and looks forward to its adopt-a-family program every year. "Participating in FSW's Adopt-a-Family program has become a part of my family's holiday tradition. Last year, our adopted family was a mother with 4 children who had escaped an abusive situation. The mom had just started an entry-level job and was working hard to overcome trauma and financial obstacles. Giving to another local family in their time of need is what the holidays are all about and it's nice to share that sentiment with my children," she said.

Donate Blood/Plasma/Platelets
The New York Blood Center in Elmsford is a permanent blood donation center. You can donate once or on a regular basis and they accept blood, plasma, and platelets. You can be creative with blood donation and even make a date night out of it with your partner. The Elmsford location has later hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays and a back route gets you to fabulous restaurants in Tarrytown in 7 minutes.

I have brought my kids with me to donate blood and the techs have been great at explaining to them how donating blood can help save someone's life. This is recommended for kids ages 6+ and they should be able to sit for at least 30 minutes. Your kids might even get treated to a snack and stickers.

The Red Cross holds regular blood donation drives all over Westchester. 

Local hospitals also have blood donation centers. Call for specific donation policies and donation center hours.

Thank our Civil Servants
A great and easy way to say thanks to Scarsdale's firefighters, ambulance workers, or police is to drop off a tray of food for them. (Sandwiches, cookies, even a couple of pizzas.) Kids will love saying thank you and if they're old enough to make cards or pictures, this is always appreciated.

Church and Synagogue-based Volunteering/Charity
Contact your local religious organization about volunteer activities. Many regularly hold food drives, winter coat drives, and general clothing drives. Kids love the feeling of dumping bags of food into collection containers. Laurie Feinstein, a mom of three in Edgemont, volunteered through her synagogue this past weekend preparing food for a Thanksgiving feast hosted by the Coachman homeless shelter in White Plains. "I hope my children learn two things from the experience," she said. "One is that everybody does not have what you have so be grateful for the food, shelter and clothes that just appear in your lives. The other is that you can use your time and two hands to make someone else's day better." She tells her kids, "the bread you knead will be eaten by a child happy to pick it out of the bread basket. The cake you bake will possibly be the only dessert that child has for a week. The Thanksgiving decorations the volunteers put up may be the only ones that have ever been hung up just for them." Laurie will literally tell her children, ages 5 and 7, that while it can be sad to think about what people don't have, it also reminds us of how much power we have in our hands to make someone's life better, even if it's just for a night.

School Charity Collections
Scarsdale schools do a phenomenal job of encouraging children and parents to help those that are less fortunate. Look for information that comes home with your child about what is being collected or go to the school's website for more information.

Westchester County Diaper Bank
The Junior League of Central Westchester (JLCW) has partnered with County Executive Rob Astorino and the Department of Social Services to open the very first diaper bank in Westchester. JLCW and its partners have worked hard to increase the awareness of the need for diapers which are not a luxury item for parents. Diapers are not covered under federal assistance programs and some families must choose between buying diapers or formula, food and medication. Kids are really able to understand this concept, and there's something very cute and meaningful about watching your 3-year-old throw a big pack of diapers in a diaper collection bin. Bins exist all over Scarsdale and you can even host your own diaper drive at your child's preschool, church, synagogue, or fitness center.

Volunteer New York!
The mission of Volunteer New York is to "...inspire, mobilize, and equip individuals and groups to take positive action to address pressing challenges, support nonprofits and strengthen the quality of life in our community." The search engine on their website will allow you to learn about every volunteer opportunity in the area, and actually sign up for dates and times. "We encourage adults to serve, youth to build character, families to bond, young professionals to lead, mature adults to share their wisdom and businesses to support our community," the site reads. And they mean it- many volunteer spots welcome children of various ages.

And, of course, if you'd rather donate money, Giving Tuesday is coming up on December 1st. Just be sure to check out a site like www.charitynavigator.org to ensure that your charity is highly ranked.