10 Ways to Make a Difference This Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving season, we are offering up 10 ways to make a difference. Hopefully one or more of these ideas will encourage you to take steps to make a difference whether it be helping an individual or the planet as a whole, each gesture gets us one step closer to changing the world. Just imagine the things we could do if we all worked together.

1) Donate: Be it money, food or items, donating to organizations who help people not only feels good but does good. Donating to your local charity is easy and usually tax-deductible. There are thousands of charities that need help. Find one or two that hold meaning for you and donate what you can. A favorite we recommend, and one of the top rated charities in the world is World Central Kitchen run by chef Jose Andrés. WCK is on the ground feeding folks in war torn and disaster zones throughout the world. Want to make sure a non-profit is reputable and not sure where to start? These sites can help you decide: Charity Navigator, ProPublica Non-Profit Explorer.

2) Share: Your time, your tools, your expertise. We all have something we can share with others. Sharing can be as simple as offering to walk a neighbors dog or as complex as teaching a class. Many neighborhoods have groups where you can lend or borrow anything from lawnmowers to prom dresses. Sites such as Nextdoor, Facebook, BuyNothing, and Freecycle create ways to share what you have with others locally.

3) Volunteer: Volunteering can mean anything from helping out at a local school to driving seniors to and from doctor appointments, picking up trash at local beaches, or knocking doors for politicians. Volunteer Match is a great place to find opportunities that meet your criteria or check with your local schools, hospitals, community centers, or senior centers.

4) Recycle: By making a concerted effort to buy recyclable items and taking them to a local recycling center you can not only help the environment but save yourself a little money too. Many recycling centers pay a nominal amount for items such as glass, plastic bottles, or aluminum cans. Earth 911 can help you find recycling centers near you. They also have an app for your phone called IRecycle.

5) Adopt: If you are thinking about adding a pet to your home rather than heading to the local pet shop, contact one of the many animal rescue associations. Many of them not only allow for local adoptions but encourage out-of-state and sometimes even foreign pet adoptions. Petfinder is dedicated to helping you adopt from over 11,000 shelters and rescues across Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. A few favorites are Marley’s Mutts or AMA Animal Rescue check with your local Animal Shelter through the ASPCA.

6) Spend wisely: Buying from companies who donate a portion of their profits to making a difference in the world. Researching companies to learn about how their profits are spent and purchasing from those whose principles align with yours is a painless way to be a consumer. Here are a few companies we recommend for holiday gift-giving. Goodshop donates a percentage of your purchase to a charity of your choice via coupons with thousands of retailers. Uncommon Goods sells unique goods while giving $1 of every purchase to charity. Ocean Sole makes colorful critters from flip flops collected along the beaches of Kenya. Grounds and Hounds donates to a variety of animal rescue facilities around the country through the sale of coffee and related items. GoImagine is a marketplace filled with handmade items from sellers who donate 100% of the profits to charity.

7) Invest in the future: If you are lucky enough to have disposable income, pledge to invest a portion of it in the future. Whether that means putting aside money for your children’s or grandchildren’s college fund or investing in companies that are building towards the future such as solar energy or cleaning up the ocean such as The Ocean Cleanup. Impactful Ninja has a wonderful list best charities that advance STEM education for young inspired entrepreneurs looking toward the future.

8) Set an example: By being aware of what we do each day and how we behave, we set a powerful example for the next generation. Showing our children that by being kind and generous, concerned about our environment and future we can make a difference going forward. Childrens Bureau has simple ideas for how to teach kids to give back.

9) Start a discussion: By talking about what we each can do and working together we all benefit. Sharing our knowledge and experiences with others allows all of us to learn and grow. By taking time to acknowledge our similarities and differences we can better understand each other, and that goes a long way toward making a difference in the world. Seth Godin created this Thanksgiving Reader to be shared, read, and discussed each Thanksgiving.

10) Buy vintage: After all, this is a vintage blog, so you didn’t think we would forget did you? But seriously, by buying vintage each of us pushes back just a bit on the corporate idea of constant growth. If every one of us bought just a few more vintage items each year, rather than new ones, the constant push to make more would begin to subside. That seemingly small effort could lead to a decline in pollution, poverty, and illness across the planet.