If you follow along, you know that I’m all about living in the moment and enjoying every second, in gratitude for everything that comes my way. And there is nothing that fills my heart more than giving back, and giving back in a multitude of ways, not just financially. It is for this reason that I decided to share my 5 simple ways to give back this holiday season and any time of the year. 
One only needs to watch the evening news to find numerous stories of those in need. And while I know that many of us live life paycheck to paycheck, being on a tight budget doesn’t mean we have nothing to offer the causes that are important to us.
Sometimes even a dollar here and there does wonders for charitable organizations, especially if you can find a way to get your charitable donations matched. I know at my job they match donations to a pre-set list of charities. I also know of at least two organizations that give a percentage of your purchase toward charities, which could be a perfect compliment for all the holiday shopping to come.
iGive.com – you register, choose your cause, then use their iGive buton on over 1,500 online stores and a percentage of your purchase gets sent to your cause, at no extra cost to you.
AmazonSmile allows you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. Simply shop at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organization. You can choose from nearly one million organizations to support.
But there’s no need to spend to give back. It’s as easy as taking a look at your pantry to see what you can donate to your local food bank. Don’t have anything to donate? Consider coordinating a food drive in your neighborhood, at your office or among family and friends. You’ll be amazed how the holiday spirit will show itself in full abundance.
Once you’ve tackled that, continue the holiday spirit by seeing what you can part with in your closet and among your household goods. I know I’ve shared this before, but I always keep a bag in my closet, ready to receive worn, ill-fitting clothing and shoes. And once I accumulate a few bags, I pick a room to look through to find things that look dated or that I haven’t used in a while to maximize my trip to the donation station or donation pick up. So try it out for yourself and/or again reach out to your neighbors, co-workers, friends and family to see what wonderful donations you can gather together.
Can’t part with things at home, no worries, consider volunteering at your favorite organizations. You can do everything from helping to build a home for someone via organizations like Habitat for Humanity, to using your talents for creating marketing, building databases, delivering or serving meals, to maintaining the grounds of your favorite non-profit. The possibilities are endless. Even if you don’t have an idea what you have to offer, reach out to your favorite charity or non-profit organization and have a conversation to find out what fits. 
Still not convinced you have the time or the resources to give back? If you have time to Facebook, tweet or post a selfie somewhere in the social media sphere, then you have everything you need to give back.
A prime example of this is the Smiling It Forward program, which I recently learned about over dinner with Doctor Aliza A. Lifshitz M.D., Children’s Health Fund (CHF) peeps and fellow blogueras. Along with sharing tips for staying healthy over the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we learned that if you share a photo that makes you smile at SmilingItForward.com, Tylenol will make a $1 donation to the CHF, which offers mobile medical clinics to disadvantaged children.
Johnson & Johnson has a similar opportunity available via their Donate a Photo app, where for every photo you share through the app, Johnson & Johnson donates $1 to the cause of your choice from their pre-set list.
Another non-invasive way to give back is by bringing awareness to various movements like the Red Shoe Movement – who’s mission is to increase female representation at the highest levels of decision-making across all kinds of organizations. They aim to increase awareness for this via Red Shoe Tuesdays, where they invite women to wear their red shoes to work on Tuesdays to show their support for other women’s career success. They hope that by bringing a weekly visual reminder to your place of employment, and by encouraging others to join you, you will contribute to keep the conversation top of mind.
How cool are these finds? And as if these weren’t enough, after all the Black Friday and Cyber Monday frenzy, you now have #GivingTuesday, which has been labelled as a global day dedicated to giving back. On Tuesday, December 2, 2014, charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give. So follow me on my social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), to find how you can help me give up to $100 to the Children’s Health Fund (CHF) during #GivingTuesday.
As you can see giving back this holiday season and anytime throughout the year is pretty easy. All you have to do is be willing to follow through on your intention to give back and the possibilities will present themselves endlessly. So follow your favorite organizations via their social media channels to see if they’re involved in any similar campaigns and participate.
To start you off in the spirit of giving, I’ve decided to giveaway the size 9 red Faryl Robin booties I won from the @MerrickPark_TV. #ModernDayLatinas #redshoemovement twitter party. They just arrived and I thought I would pay forward my good fortune to one of my fabulous readers who could enjoy them just in time for all the holiday parties to come.
So please feel free to enter away and share this post and giveaway with your friends so they too can see how easy it is to give back and possibly win some red Faryl Robin booties along the way.
Good luck!
Which of these 5 ways will you choose to give back this holiday season?
Disclosure: Your Sassy Self is not associated with any of the companies named above. No purchase is necessary to enter. The odds of winning are based on the number of entries received. Open to US residents only (48 states). This event is in no way administered, sponsored, or endorsed by, or associated with, Facebook and/or Twitter, Google, Pinterest. This disclosure is done in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 10 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements. Entrants must only enter with either one email address, IP address and/or Facebook account, anyone found violating these rules will be disqualified. It is at the sole discretion of the admin of the giveaway if the winner has met the rules or not.
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Those boots are very pretty !!!
They are Tricia, good luck!
I’m a size 9 woot!
Yay! Good luck Cole