Give back and get involved in your Central Indiana community on Nov. 28, #GivingTuesday, and help keep families and children warm this holiday season.
Our Action Air team is passionate about keeping people warm over the winter. When a frantic customer calls at 2 a.m. on a freezing December morning, panicked because their heater isn’t working, we do whatever we can to fix it. But we know there are thousands of people in our community who need an extra kind of help this season as temperatures plunge.
November 28th is #GivingTuesday, a day when people all over the world focus on holiday and end-of-year giving. And whether it’s in the form of donations, time or resources, this day of giving is a powerful social media movement to encourage us all to contribute to our local communities or other national organizations and non-profits.
If you’re like us, and are passionate about helping others, consider giving your time, talents, resources or other gifts on #GivingTuesday – or any other day of the year. Here is a list of organizations to help get you started. From our family to yours, have a great – and warm – holiday season.
Wheeler Mission Ministries helps the homeless in central Indiana, and is a non-denominational, Christian, social services organization, which provides critically needed goods and services to the homeless, poor, and needy. There are opportunities to donate and volunteer or participate in any number of their fundraising events. Special Thanksgiving campaigns are going on now.
Ways that you can make a difference through the Salvation Army include helping children receive warm winter coats, assisting families as they shop for toys for their kids at Christmas, ringing a bell during the holiday season, helping serve a meal – the possibilities are numerous.
This national organization provides brand-new winter coats to children in need, helping improve self-confidence, peer acceptance, school attendance, and overall wellness. Their belief is that a new winter coat can provide more than just warmth. Check out how you can become an “Operation Warm Snow Angel.”
Family-to-Family, Inc. is a grassroots nonprofit hunger and poverty relief organization dedicated to providing food, personal hygiene products and other basic life essentials to American families struggling with the challenges of poverty. By connecting donors one-to-one with specific families in need, Family-to-Family’s mission is to bring a large and seemingly intractable problem – poverty – into personal focus, making proactive, attainable results possible…one family at a time.
Dayspring Center provides emergency shelter, clothing, and three nourishing meals a day for homeless families with children in central Indiana. Families turn to them as a last resort; some to escape domestic abuse, others have experienced financial collapse, medical problems, or other crises that caused them to lose their home. Dayspring works to combat and prevent family homelessness by first, meeting their most immediate needs for food and shelter, then working with each family to address the issues that led them to their homelessness. Eighty percent (80%) of residents who complete the program at Dayspring Center move directly into permanent housing.
Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation
Hoosier Veterans Assistance Foundation (HVAF) helps homeless veterans return to self-sufficiency and engages at-risk veterans to prevent them from becoming homeless by providing supportive housing, case management, food, hygiene and clothing as well as other essential services. Volunteers help sort and stock donations that come into the HVAF clothing and food pantries every Tuesday and Thursday during Outreach hours. Volunteers also beautify housing properties by raking leaves, painting and landscaping.
Need more ideas on how to give back to your community? The GreatNonprofits website allows you to search by location and find a comprehensive list of nonprofits that need your help. And whether your causes are animal shelters, food banks or breast cancer groups, you’ll find nonprofit reviews of each organization to help you find a great organization.
