Donating to the hungry or poor at Christmas, Sharing Program?

United States
January 6, 2007 8:46pm CST
Do you have some sort of "Sharing Program" in your area during the holidays? This would be where you pick a family and sponsor them. This past Christmas, 2006, I did this for the first time. You have to buy the requested item that they want for Christmas, like a coat, for example. Then you call them and set up a time to bring it to their house. You also take them everything they need for a Holiday dinner, like a ham, vegetables, rolls, dessert, etc. I ended up giving extra food because I had some friends that gave me some to take. It was a good experience, and the people were very much in need. I know I will do it again. Have you done something like this? Was it a good experience for you? Will you do it again? Thanks!
3 people like this
23 responses
@rsp9098 (755)
• India
7 Jan 07
ya,hav did such things!it was a really a happy moment for me and them!during one of the festival in india,my family planned to giv som money and good clothes to one of the poor families in my village!it was such a happy moment.especially when we see their eyes fill with tears of happiness!v ll surely do it again!
2 people like this
@kgwat70 (13388)
• United States
7 Jan 07
We have an agency called the Sunday Breakfast Mission here where we can donate money so that they can feed some of the poor and homeless people. I do contribute some to that but we do not have a place where we buy gifts and deliver to the persons home.
1 person likes this
@venshida (4836)
• United States
7 Jan 07
Actually my church did something similar, I sponsored one kid. I don't think I like the criteria my church use to ran this program so next time I will find a organization of my preference and contribute that way.
@Metallion (2227)
• United States
8 Jan 07
Our office did this for a family, and we probably will do the same thing next year, we think it was a success.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
7 Jan 07
Well i do it anytime, evrytime a hungry person knocks at my door and asked for food, i would serve him soemthing to eat. It really feels good when you helped the needy ones. Its how you accept Christ in your heart. I would keep doing the good things to others who needs it. Its a great experience. Try it who never did it and post how does it feels.
@SageMother (2277)
• United States
7 Jan 07
I have participated in such programs and found it extremely irritating. IF the giving is truly altruistic then it should take place when its not associated with a christian holiday. I find it rather sneaky to do this during the holidays only. Its a way to provide indoctrination with a needed meal.
1 person likes this
@vssam123 (249)
• India
7 Jan 07
here in india we do it in way in different way.we donate cloths ,food etc during festivels
1 person likes this
• India
7 Jan 07
no here we have not done it yet but are willling to do it. thank u.
1 person likes this
@kgwat70 (13388)
• United States
7 Jan 07
We do not have a program like this where I live but I think it is a great idea and I would do it if we had one here. If we do have one, I have not heard anything about it. That is great that you participated and helped someone out. I am sure that they appreciated it very much. It had to be a good feeling for you.
@anushri (961)
• India
7 Jan 07
well in my locality there r no such programs running but me personallly go to help people outside who r in need of food and clothing
1 person likes this
@riskey58 (248)
• United States
7 Jan 07
I really believe that this is something that I would enjoy doing. I have always wanted to help people in some way over holidays. It gib\ves me such joy and satisfaction to see their faces.
1 person likes this
• Canada
7 Jan 07
We don't have anything like that in my area, but it does sound like a wonderful idea. I'll have to talk to my Church about starting something like that. Thanks for sharing your suggestion.
1 person likes this
• India
7 Jan 07
i have not done like this before, but last weekend my friend took me to orphanage to give chocolates and biscuits to children. it was a great feeling being there. we asked the incharge of the orphanage for any kind of help. you get exotic relief in your heart after doing such activities.
• India
7 Jan 07
hey nice to know good people r still around. i did the same but on my birthday. i collected all my old dresses and made food and went to a orphanage and distributed choclates and good meal on that day. even distributed toys and clothes had to give old clothes as my budget was less. but i felt happy seeing the kids enjoy. they were happy.
1 person likes this
• Philippines
7 Jan 07
we've been doing this every christmas. we donate clothes to the poor.
1 person likes this
@cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
7 Jan 07
We have several programs that do this in our area. I haven't done one yet because I haven't been able to afford to. But there is a variation where you pick a child's name off of a tree and you fill a stocking for them, and I've done that. You don't meet the child or anything, you hand in the filled stocking at the tree.
1 person likes this
• United States
7 Jan 07
There is a girl at my daughters school who lives in a homeless shelter here in town so my family decided to help that family out. We contacted the center and they told us what we needed to do and we decided to get gift cards to local stores so that the whole family could go and shop and get some new clothes. The counselor said that the mother needs help in shopping and knowing what clothes she needs to buy for the kids.
• United States
7 Jan 07
I have done this for several years through various charities and churches. Depending on the program sometimes I just donate enough funds for the family to have a Christmas dinner. I have participated in the "Angel Tree" program where you pick an ornamnent from a tree and taped to the back of the ornament is a boy or girls "Wish List" for the holidays. The only time I actually met the actual family was several years ago when the place I was working at sponsored a family and they came to the office to receive their gifts and food. I have found this to be a great way of sharing and caring during the holiday season. Usually when we give to others it comes back to us tenfold. It's nice to be able to make a difference in someone's life.
@alokji (139)
7 Jan 07
yes i always done programme for poor child and always will do becuz i think that is good work for good relation with JESUS..mean god.
1 person likes this
• United States
7 Jan 07
i'm sure we do but i just moved here so i dont know anything about it. maybe i will next year. so i can donate. that would be a really good experience especially for those that really need it. they appreciate it so much. i will do this in the future when i find out about it in my area.
1 person likes this
• United States
7 Jan 07
I have done this before through my church and through my work. It was a nice experience because I was able to teach my chidren about giving and everyone felt good about it. I also have had a couple bad experience with a toys for tots type program. I worked in a small mall and the store that was right next door to us was empty, the owner donated the space to this program that collected toys and organized them for families that signed up to recieve the toys. When the pick up days came it was horrible. There were all of these people that were pulling up in these new SUV's wearing Tommy HIllfiger clothes...I thought it was crazy! I cant say that all the people were like this, but a lot of them were. There was also a time that I was working at a large retail store in the returns department. It was about a week before Christmas and this family came in to return all this stuff. Half of it wasnt even from our store. THey didnt have reciepts or anything, finally the mom told me that this was toys for tots stuff and they didnt need all the toys so they were returning it to get a gift card, with this card they bought other stuff, but it wasnt stuff that they NEEDED and it wasnt stuff for the kids. I think that it is great when you can help someone that really does need to be helped.
1 person likes this