The holidays are a great time to start volunteering!

• It’s a perfect time to institute volunteering as part of a family holiday tradition.
• Everyone can lend a hand and help the community meet critical needs.
• You can get a jump on New Year’s resolutions and decide what cause or issue you or your family would like to support next year.

Often nonprofits will receive so may calls from people who want to volunteer that they cannot accommodate all the volunteers. United Way Volunteer Centers often organize a list of organizations that need special holiday help. You can find your local United Way in the phone book or by typing in your zip code at the bottom of this page.

Here are some ideas you can pursue on your own – during the holidays or throughout the year.

• Holiday Entertainment – Provide holiday entertainment – including reading stories and donating books -- to residents of assisted living homes, group homes, a children’s hospital or to people who are not able to leave their own homes due to illness.
• Holiday Crafts – Make holiday crafts along with children at a homeless shelter or at and adult daycare.
• Holiday Tea – Make cookies, placemats and serve tea a senior center or for those homebound.
• Clear the Snow – Volunteer to shovel the snow for a senior all winter. Give them a card with this gift!
• Make Treats for Non-Profit Agencies – Contact your favorite non-profit organization that provides a much needed service and make snacks or a lunchtime meal for the employees.
• Holiday or Birthday Wishes – Celebrate your child’s birthday or the holidays and assemble goodie bags, wrap presents and treats for children in shelters.
• First Christmas -- Help those displaced by a disaster or new immigrants celebrate their “First Christmas” by collecting food, kitchen supplies, linens, clothing, etc.
• Collect Toys – Participate in a toy drive with the goal of donating toys that promote active play and other healthy behavior.
• Answer a Wish List – Ask a nonprofit agency that serves your favorite cause for wish list and purchase or make items that will support the services they provide year-round. To see the wish list of several nonprofits, contact your local United Way Volunteer Center.
• Give an Alternative Gift – Give your family and friends a gift by donating money or supplies to a local organization in honor of a friend or family member and give that person a card describing the organization and the donation made in their name.
• Contribute to a meal -- Coordinate a food drive for a food bank.
• Help the Homeless – Sort and bag toiletry items collected for homeless shelters and others in need.
• Closet Cleaning -- Organize a closet cleaning and donate clothes, furniture and other items to a shelter.
• Welcome Baby Baskets – Have a shower for new moms in need with diapers, washcloths, blankets, parenting tips, board books and other materials.
• Prepare and/or Deliver a Meal – Prepare or pick-up a prepared meal to deliver to the homebound, or volunteer at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen.
• Adopt a family – Or a senior in need for gift giving.
• Make holiday cards -- Take your cards to a nursing home or hospital.
• Adopt a Service Person -- Make holiday cards for personnel overseas or at a Veterans Hospital, or adopt a family who has a loved one overseas. Visit www.ourmilitary.mil for other ways to show support.
• Make a Blanket – Make or give a blanket to a family or to help victims of natural disasters.
• Share the Warmth – Locate an organization that needs coats and shoes and start collecting – hats and gloves too!
• Donate – Your pennies make difference
• Make Birthday Boxes – Make birthday boxes for organizations that work with seniors or with children so that they can provide love to these individuals all year long.
• Support Utility Payment Assistance – Help families keep the heat and lights on. Your local United Way can tell you how.
• Make a New Year’s Resolution – Volunteer often in 2010!