Give

'Tis the season. 

.....and I'm good with it. Well, some of it. 

Honestly, I haven't bought a thing.......well, for anyone in the house, or for anyone in my Secret Satan group, but only because we haven't picked names yet. 

But we do give back a few times per year - and always on Giving Tuesday, as for most organizations, they match the amount you give them, so it makes it a bit better. 

An unknown, to me, when it came to signing up for races, is that each race has a registration cost to it - which makes sense. T-shirts and bananas aren't free ya know.  They all have a donation option too - and each one supports a different organization, sometimes multiple. I always select one and donate something. 

That has indeed filled up my email in the last week. All of them worthy causes. Some are ones to which we already give regularly, some not. It's difficult opting to give to some at this time of year and not all. It's fairly impossible, or at least, improbable. 

Maybe $5 and $10 is enough and spread it around more. We try to make semi-substantial donations at this time, and while I'd love to give a good amount to all, it's just not realistic. I'm not sure if more in a few places is better than a little in a lot of places. 

We went with the former. 

Cash. As with places like food banks, $$$ is better than donating food. It's amazing what people give that the underprivileged can't prepare. Mac and Cheese being one, as they might not be able to afford milk. Food banks have the knowledge, so giving them cash can actually feed people they way that fits their means. 

Ditto with dogs and cats. And gay at risk youths. 

Where I do buy actual gifts is for the Jewish childrens's bureau. They house a lot of at risk youths - not all Jewish. And kids with special needs. And as it turns out, homeless. The last few years, most people have asked for gift cards, and that's easy and it was a pandemic. But I'd always choose 2-3 kids who wanted something physical. Yeah, they got a gifr card too, but hopefully they got things they wanted. 

This year, I picked a few who identified as homeless. They didn't want gift cards. They wanted sweaters or blankets, hats and / or gloves.  We got them everything. We added scarves and the likes, plus gift cards to food places. 

Listen, I'm a pussy. It was freezing yesterday, I couldn't last four hours on the street, let alone overnight. Or for a period of time. I hate that anyone has to. Does giving assuage any guilt I have?  No. Do I hope it makes an impact, even a little bit, to someone?  I do. 

I'm not smart or rich enough to take care of all these groups, but I wish I were. 

Indeed being kind costs nothing. Doing kind might cost a little something - so we try to. 

This wasn't intended to guilt others into giving. Honest. Just thoughts as I sift through my FB feed and email with dozens of Giving Tuesday requests. I hope everyone meets their goals........and then some. 

Song by: the Dandy Warhols