Good Will

Every year we buy a gift for the K Mart Wishing Tree. We did try and buy something for a child the age Saskia would have been each year but after we discovered the Hasbro Sale the opportunity to buy a super cool present at a super cool price was just too good to pass up. So now we buy whatever is going that will make someones day- this year we got a big Tonka truck for some wee dude out there.

Last year for the first time we donated gifts to the Women's Refuge both for kids and a grown-up. IN that situation you actually get the age and sex of the child you are buying for which is cool.... but also meant that I went a bit over the top. It was really cool to buy for a grown-up too though... nice to know that someone who was obviously having a fairly crappy year would have a little high point. We haven't done it this year but will certainly try to again in the future.
I try and make sure that we put some good stuff into the food bank bin each year around this time as well. I like to do canned fruit because it's yummy and good for you and I always wonder about some of the stink stuff that you see in there sometimes!


The same goes for the SPCA a couple of cans of cat or dog food don't go a miss especially as this is the height of kitten season and pet abandonment time!

In the last year that I taught at school we did a term where we looked at ways to give back to the community. The kids went to a rest home to sing carols and gave out hand made cards to the residents taking a bit of time to stop and chat. They also reprised their Chocolate Brownie business raising money to buy gifts for the Salvation Army to give out- we were lucky to get a good deal from Hasbro for that as well. And they volunteered their time at a location of their choice- some just helped out in classes at school and some made a big effort to go to places like the SPCA and do some volunteering.

In Dunedin their was a 'Grant a Wish' Scheme faciltated by the local paper older members of the community rang in their wishes and these were recorded and then other citizens rang and got the details of the wish or wishes they could grant. Among other things I recall taking Cat food to one lady and home baking to another. A third wanted to go out for a drive on Christmas Day and so I went and picked her up and took her for a big drive including up Mt Cargill from which you can get 360 deg views of the whole district and city. I gave her a present as well before dropping her home.

When the kids are older- perhaps even when they have fled home and we have Christmas just the two of us we'd like to go and volunteer to help do Christmas lunch at the City Mission or some other similar organisation- it would be good to do with the kids when they are older to give them an insight to just how good they have it as well as engendering in them the will to help others.

Of course there is also the option of giving goats and chickens in lieu of gifts to poorer communities in Africa etc. But I actually prefer the idea of working through Kiva. Through Kiva you can loan money to people in poverty and give them the opportunity to help themselves and improve their life and that of their community. You can loan as little as $25 you choose exactly who you want to loan to and you get a background on the person and what they want to do with the money. Kiva has a 98% repayment rate and once your money is repaid you can choose to get it back or you can reinvest in another person or group. It's pretty cool I reckon.

And that is my idea of Good Will at Christmas!

♥