Giving Without Spending...Much: Holiday Helper

Each year, Mothering (http://www.mothering.com/) has a Holiday Helper program where you can help families in need. Many of the requested items can be used. I'm sure we all have clothes or other things collecting dust that are in great condtion. With that said, please take a moment to check out the list of families that need help. After reading their stories, you will realize just how blessed you are. Even if you only send one item, every little bit helps. Let's help these families have a good Christmas.

Giving Without Spending: Donate your breast milk

If you have an abundance of breast milk with no end in sight, consider donating it. The La Leche League website has a great page about breast milk donation here. Also included on this page, are a list of milk banks in the U.S. and other countries. If you go this route to donate, you may have to pay for shipping and packaging if you don't live near a bank.

There is another option for donation with The International Breastmilk Project. The milk they receive is sent to Africa for children who have been orphaned due to poverty and disease like HIV/AIDS. If you qualify for the program, they send you a cooler and cover the cost of shipping. Therefore, you pay nothing with this program.

Makes me want to start lactating! I really wish I would have known about this when I was breastfeeding my youngest.

Giving Without Spending: A hairy proposition!

Are you contmeplating chopping off your really long hair? Along with making yourself feel good, how about making someone else feel good too? There are many women and children that have lost their hair due to medical reasons and treatments. Please consider donating your hair to help boost their self-esteem and give them a sense of feeling normal again.

Programs:

Locks of Love

Beautiful Lengths

Wigs for Kids

If you know of any more, please feel free to leave a comment with the info. :)

Giving Without Spending: Calling all labor doulas

From the site:

Operation Special Delivery provides trained volunteer doulas for pregnant women whose husbands or partners have been severely injured or who have lost their lives due to the current war on terror, or who will be deployed at the time that they are due to give birth.

If you're not a labor doula but know someone who is, tell them about Operation Special Delivery. This is a great service. I couldn't imagine going through labor without my husband!

Giving Without Spending...Much: Toys for Tots

It's that time of year again. I've been seeing the Toys for Tots boxes at my local wally world for a few weeks now. As I was perusing the toy section, I saw some really cute ones for $5. The hubby and I wound up getting one that was $10 to donate. It's up to you what you get but you don't have to spend a lot to give a needy child a great Christmas. Next time you're in a store that has a Toys for Tots box, give up something and use that $5 and purchase a toy to donate.

Giving Without Spending: FreeRice.com

(Originally posted on my blog The Adventures of Frugal Girl )

I love this! You will not only help donate rice to the hungry, but learn vocabulary as well! For each word you get right, they will donate 10 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. Click here to get smarter and help others.

Giving Without Spending: The Bible Site

(Originally posted on my blog The Adventures of Frugal Girl )

This site is similar to the Hunger Site in that all you have to do is make a click to make a difference. The Bible Site donates Bibles and books of the Bible to persecuted Christians in other countries. Click here to visit the site and click now. Make sure to bookmark the page and click daily!