December 2021 - St. Louis |
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USPS Operation Santa
United States Postal Service
Date/Time: USPS Operation Santa 2021 has begun!
- Monday, November 29: Letter adoption begins.
- Saturday, December 18: Drop off your packages at a participating Post Office™ location by this day to help ensure they are delivered by the 25th.
- Wednesday, December 22: Letters, if still available, will remain on the site until 11:59pm. The mailroom closes for the season at 12:01am on December 23.
- Friday, January 14: Final deadline for packages to be sent.
Location: You can adopt a letter to Santa that has been sent through the USPS and fulfill the wishes of the letter writer. Letters can be adopted online or you can browse through letters at the post office. Click here for shipping guidelines.
Ages: Everyone can participate
Time Commitment: Varies
The Postal Service began receiving letters to Santa Claus more than 100 years ago. In 1912 Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local Postmasters to allow postal employees and citizens to respond to the letters — a program that eventually became known as Operation Santa. Through the years, the program grew and took on a life of its own. Today, customers can go online to browse through the letters and if one touches them, they can adopt it and help the child have a magical holiday. The mission of USPS Operation Santa is to provide a channel where people can give back and help children and families — enabling them to have a magical holiday when they otherwise might not — one letter to Santa at a time.
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Family Volunteers for Peace Festival
Global Peace Women
Date/Time: Sunday, December 5, 10am PT, 12 pm CT, 1 pm ET
Location: Online
Ages: All ages! We welcome you to attend as a family!
Time Commitment: Two-hour program
On December 5, International Volunteer Day, join family volunteers from all over the world to celebrate the power of volunteerism!
Festivities include:
- Family Volunteers Story Telling
- Performances
- Story Contest winners!
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Make Greeting Cards
St. Louis Arc
Date/Time: Ongoing project
Location: Cards can be mailed to:
The St. Louis Arc
1177 North Warson Road
St. Louis, MO, 63132
Attn: Megan Eader
Ages: Everyone can participate
Time Commitment: Varies
The Mission of the St. Louis Arc is to empower people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families to lead better lives by providing a lifetime of high-quality services, family support, and advocacy. We are also guided by our core beliefs of Respect, Collaboration, and Empowerment. Your family can help by making greeting cards to be distributed to programs within the St. Louis Arc. Donate time and creativity to send a cheerful greeting to someone during the holiday season, New Year, birthday, or a friendly greeting. Cards can be with or without an envelope, unsealed or sealed with a sticker
Contact: Megan Eader, meader@slarc.org. Click here to indicate interest and to receive additional information.
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Affordable Christmas
Mission: St. Louis
Date/Time: Toy donations will be picked up from toy drive locations the first week of December.
Location: Click here to find a toy drop-off location near you .
Ages: Everyone can help
Time Commitment: Varies
Affordable Christmas is a holiday event that allows under-resourced families to provide Christmas for their children. Families can shop for gifts at drastically reduced prices in our virtual and in-person stores. Your family can donate toys, money or host a toy drive. We are looking to have 5,000 toys in our virtual and in-person Affordable Christmas store! You can find requested items on our wish list or shop on our Amazon wish list, Target wish list and Walmart wish list to have your gifts sent directly to us. You can also choose to donate directly on our website; $15 will buy one toy, and we'll do the shopping for you
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Holiday Wish Lists
Great Circle
Date/Time: To be completed and dropped off by December 13
Location: Great Circle Campus, 330 N. Gore Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63119
Ages: No age restrictions
Time Commitment: Time it will take to fulfill a family wish list for the holidays
Great Circle is a behavioral health organization dealing with children and families with emotional and behavioral issues. We are a residential facility as well as a Day Treatment school. Many of the children attending our school come from families who are struggling to make ends meet on a regular basis. To make the holiday magical for the children of Great Circle, we are accepting the following wish list items. All gifts must be NEW and UNWRAPPED and delivered to the Great Circle campus in Webster Groves before December 13, 2021.
- $10 gift cards to fast food and restaurants
- $10 gift cards to Walmart and Target
- $10 gift cards to iTunes
- $10 gift cards to Marcus and AMC theaters
- Craft supplies and art materials
- Developmental toys for newborns to 6 years old
- Toys, books, games, puzzles for all age groups
- Clothing, hats, gloves, coats in all sizes
- Purses, jewelry, makeup, accessories for teens
- Sports equipment and team apparel for all ages
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2021 Virtual Canned Food Drive
Food Outreach
Date/Time: Now through December 31
Location: Online
Ages: Everyone can help
Time Commitment: Varies
Our Virtual Canned Food drive (VCFD) allows you to safely participate in our community’s response to help our neighbors who are struggling with hunger in addition to a diagnosis of HIV or cancer. Supporting our virtual food drive is easy. 1 can = $1.00 donation. You can give on your own or build a team and recruit family, friends, neighbors, or work colleagues! Food Outreach has a long history of providing care, through volunteers and staff, with respect and kindness. We remain devoted to the significance of every client we serve, strengthened by their bravery and resilience. Learn more here.
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Families For Wishes
Make-A-Wish
Date/Time: Most campaigns run December 1 - 31
Ages: Everyone can participate
Time Commitment: Varies
Celebrate the holiday season with your family by raising funds to help wish families. Together, let’s bring joy back into a family’s life so they can look forward to tomorrow. Every dollar raised matters. Families For Wishes is a holiday campaign that celebrates the wish families currently waiting for their wish to be granted. Sharing your support for Make-A-Wish® as a family will introduce more people to the life-changing power of a wish and help make wishes come true for children and families when they need it most. Families all over America are invited to join the campaign to bring joy back into a family’s life and raise funds for their local Make-A-Wish chapter from November 30 through December 31. Learn more by downloading the Families for Wishing Toolkit.
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Donate Toys
Toys for Tots
Ages: Everyone can participate
Time Commitment: Varies
Toys for Tots is a well-known charity, established in 1991 by the US Marine Corps Toys For Tots Foundation. Their mission is simple: to provide a tangible sign of hope to economically disadvantaged children at Christmas. Every child can relate to the idea that they receive so many gifts for the Holidays, and yet some children in our community may not receive a special toy for Christmas. Join us in our efforts to ensure that every child in need in our community receives a new and unwrapped toy this holiday season!
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Make-A-Wish
Macy's Believe Campaign
Date/Time: November 1 through December 24
Location: Online or at any Macy's retail store
Ages: Everyone is welcome to participate
Time Commitment: Varies
This is the 13th year of Macy's Believe campaign benefiting Make-A-Wish. Your family can help make a child's wish come true! For every letter you send online or postcard you download and drop in a big red letterbox in-store, Macy's will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish, up to $1 million, to create magical, life-changing experiences for terminally ill children and their families. During National Believe Week (November 28-December 4), Macy's is doubling their donation, giving $2 per letter, up to an additional $1 million. This brings the total campaign goal to $2 million! Since 2003, Macy's has donated over $157 million and helped grant over 16,000 wishes. With Macy's support, Make-A-Wish is committed to ensuring that no child waits even one unnecessary day to experience how a wish can encourage the belief in the impossible.
Contact: Click here to learn more.
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Greet Deliveries with Gratitude |
EXPLORE our growing list of at-home projects you can do whenever you're ready, each with conversation starters, book ideas, and more! Follow along on social media as other families tackle this month's project and share their stories! Simply join our Facebook group or find us on Instagram ( @doinggoodtogether and #sharekindness). |
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Add kindness to your holiday shopping experience. (And support a big-hearted nonprofit too!)
Our newly updated Shop Kind online store has gifts, games, books, apparel, kindness kits and more. Great for gift giving or for yourself! Visit often as we add items through Bookshop, the Amazon Associates program, and from independent vendors. The passive income we receive from sales, along with the small ad cost to DGT chosen vendors, helps our nonprofit as we in turn help busy browsers and buyers find goods that "do good" as well. (Disclaimer: we receive affiliate dollars and a small fee from the vendors to help support DGT.) Thank you!
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Mailing Address:
755 Medina Rd
Wayzata, MN 55391
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This list was compiled by Doing Good Together™ (www.doinggoodtogether.org)
When calling to volunteer for any of the opportunities listed above, please let the coordinator know you found it through this listing. You are encouraged to ask any questions you may have of the sponsoring organization before committing to a project.
Disclaimer: This list is provided as a service to families. Inclusion of organizations in this listing does not imply affiliation, endorsement or quality assurance on the part of Doing Good Together.™ Doing Good Together™ bears no responsibility whatsoever for the activities and actions of the listed organizations.
© 2021 Doing Good Together™
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