Advent Calendar - December 12, 2007

Charitable/Volunteer Work

Did your family ever volunteer with a charity such as a soup kitchen, homeless or battered women’s shelter during the holidays? Were you able to make the holidays special for someone less fortunate?

Here is a brief summary of contributions from fellow bloggers and links to their individual posts:

Terry brings us Gleaning the Cotton Fields in Monroe County Circa 1950 posted at Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississippi. He gives all of us a glimpse into the practice of scratching out a living by harvesting what was set aside for "the stranger or the needy."

Diane at CanadaGenealogy, or, 'Jane's Your Aunt' presents Charitable/Volunteer Work in which she tries to abide by the words of Charles Dickens: "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."

In Advent Meme Day 12: Volunteering Jessica at Jessica's Genejournal wonders who might be keeping warm with a scarf she made for the homeless one year.

Stephen presents A Friendly Place - Serving the Homeless posted at Steve's Genealogy Blog. While as he child he would purposely donate canned vegetables of the variety he disliked from his mother's pantry, he now works with a homeless shelter for women in Oakland, California.

Colleen offers us some great opportunities to help children during Christmas as she presents The Oracle of OMcHodoy: Advent Calendar December 12: Charity Works. She details several worthwhile local and national programs posted at The Oracle of OMcHodoy.

I agree with Apple when she says that many programs need help all year round, not just during the holidays. Read about several groups she has worked with as she presents Apple's Tree: Charitable/Volunteer Work posted at Apple's Tree.

This next post, Charitable / Volunteer Work by Lori at Smoky Mountain Family Historian amazed me. The person you help one holiday season may very well turn out to be a relative on your family tree as you do your research years later.

Becky presents In a time of need... posted at kinexxions. Learn how she and her suddenly expanded household were visited by two of Santa's helpers who brought with them the true meaning of Christmas.

In The Christmas that Almost Wasn't at Creative Gene, Jasia tells us the real magic of The Bouncy Horse. Read her post and see how there really was a Christmas one year, even after a tragedy, due to the efforts of family, neighbors and local organizations.

Randy at Genea-Musings is really too hard on himself in his post Day 13 - Charitable/Volunteer Work. While he extols his wife's many volunteer efforts, he doesn't realize what he has given the genea-blogger community through is writings and posts.

And lastly, in But What Can I Give? at Destination: Austin Family, you can read about how to adopt a family in your community this Christmas. It really isn't too late.

In closing, I want to say thank you to all the donations of fantastic posts from our genea-bloggers. We are at the half-way point in the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories and your donations of memories are greatly appreciated.

Check back tomorrow for more submissions on the next topic: Christmas and the Arts