1. Go through your children’s toys and pick out the toys in good condition that they have outgrown or aren’t playing with and donate them to a homeless shelter. Be sure to deliver them as a family. 

2. If you see someone begging on the street, offer to buy them a meal rather than just giving them money. Or, if you aren’t opposed to it, buy fast food coupons and keep them in your car, purse, or briefcase to give as handouts.

  1. Collect the soap and shampoo from a hotel stay, or take the nail-polish colors you don’t use and give them to your local women’s shelter — those women especially deserve to feel pretty. 

2. Donate your old business clothes so that men and women can use them for job interviews. If your community has a Jewish vocational service, or a similar secular organization, donate a few afternoons to teach them good interview techniques. If they have kids and you do too, the kids can play while you talk over coffee.

  1. Brighten up someone’s day: drop fresh flowers off at a homeless shelter, old-age home, or soup kitchen. This takes little time and costs very little, but sure adds warmth and beauty to some lonely places. You might even drop off a blooming plant so the fauna lasts longer. 

2. Donate your old or outgrown winter coats, hats, and mittens to those in need. Many communities have coat drives or you can just deliver them to any nearby shelter or Goodwill. 

1. Walk around your block and pick up trash. 

2. Visit and cuddle with animals in your local Humane Society or animal shelter.

  1. Donate movie tickets to a local homeless shelter, battered women’s shelter, or orphanage. You might even ask the theater to match your contribution — you buy ten and they give you ten as a donation. 

2. Put a tzedekah box in your kitchen or your bedroom and put in your pocket change at the end of each night of Chanukah. You’ll be surprised how much money you can collect, then decide as a family where you want to donate the money.

  1. If the weather is bad (cold or snowy for those of you in the north), offer to do grocery shopping for a neighbor, friend, or family member who would have difficulty getting out and about. 

2. Deliver hot meals to the homebound through your community’s Meals on Wheels programs. Bring a menorah and light the candles with them. You can even sing a Chanukah song.

  1. Go through your kids’ closets with them and fill grocery bags with the items that are too small. Then take the kids to a homeless shelter, Goodwill or Jewish agency serving children. Kids get a thrill out of giving the bag themselves. 

2. Instead of giving toys or gelt to friends for Chanukah, give them a certificate of a contribution to a worthy children’s cause in their name.

  1. Volunteer to read for the blind or donate some of your used books on tape to your local old-age home. 

2. Spearhead a drive in your synagogue or day school to collect new or slightly used blankets and donate them to ahomeless shelter. Try to find a local dry-cleaning business that is willing to donate its services to clean the blankets on an ongoing basis. 

This article was adapted from a section in the United Jewish Communities Washington 12 Conference Handbook from 2000.The Washington 13 Young Leadership Conference is scheduled for February 10-12 of 2002. If you are between ages 20 and 45 and have never been, go to http://www.jewishcommunities.org/wash13_home.html for more information and online registration.You’ll be glad you did!

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