The Little Paper

The holidays provide a natural opportunity to share traditions and values with your family – ‘tis the season of memories and giving. Perhaps it’s that hushed candle-lit Christmas eve service sparked with carols, the baking, charades, the candles of Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. At any rate, it’s a time when lasting memories are formed. And while presents are dandy, the ‘fairy-dust’, which surrounds the presents is the true magic.

Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas or Kwanzaa, the spirit of giving and thankfulness forms the core of the season. There are numerous ways to give back. Here is just a small list for you to consider.

For starters, try giving back to your community by adopting a shop local policy. Get the kids involved, and see if it’s possible to walk and shop the ‘hood for all your seasonal needs. While you’re at it, ask your child to identify a few of the important people they interact with on a regular basis such as crossing guards, a favourite shopkeeper or the local story-telling librarian. Homemade cookies and handmade cards are a great way to say thank-you and tell the people who are important in your child’s life how important they are to you.

Building on the theme, there is conscious and ethical seasonal shopping; choosing presents, cards, trees, wrappings, etc. that contribute to a charity or cause and/or are ethically and sustainably produced. Cards and presents from organizations such as Unicef Canada and Cards Helping Kids benefit children specifically. Grassroots with online ordering and two Toronto locations is a Mecca for earth-friendly gifts. For the fair trade minded, Ten Thousand Villages stocks their stores with goods (including toys and games) bought for a fair price from artisans in developing countries. Online resources such as ebay’s Giving Works and fair trade global girlfriends are also good choices.

Then, for a relatively modest sum, there are the gifts that change a life. Much of this giving focuses on developing nations with widespread poverty. A donation of just $25 to Plan Canada for a Home Birthing Kit provides 10 babies with a healthy start in life. Or $45 to Canadian Hunger Foundation supplies the seeds and tools to develop a Women’s Community Garden in South Sudan. Other organizations to consider are Kiva, where your $25 loan helps overseas entrepreneurs build a business and a bridge out of poverty.

At World Wildlife Fund, $50 helps protect an endangered species by symbolically adopting it. This is a real hit for the young naturalist on your list; they receive an adoption certificate, species info kit and a plush version of their endangered animal. There’s over a hundred species to choose from–even a duck-billed platypus.

On the local front, numerous Toronto-based charities help families in need. There’s the Breakfast with Santa Foundation and the Hope for Children Foundation, who’s Adopt a Family Program lets you bring Christmas to a family over the festive season.

If volunteering is your thing, and you’d like the experience to include your small children, The Habitat for Humanity Home Sweet Home: The Gingerbread Build provides a volunteer event for the whole family. Your $50 helps build a ‘home sweet home’ for a family in need by decorating a gingerbread house. The event takes place on 5, 6 December in downtown Toronto at the Delta Chelsea Hotel. See the website to sign up.

And last but not least, give back this season through simply adding your voice to a great cause. Two of our favourite local charities: The Pine Project, which focuses on nature exploration for city-bound youth and The Children’s Storefront, a much-loved Annex neighbourhood drop-in which burnt down recently, are putting their hat in for The Aviva Fund. The Fund, established so people could make a lasting positive impact on their community goes into its semi-final round 2-16 December. Simply log on and vote for the community idea of your choice.