Why I Give Back to the Community

Last Updated on September 12, 2020 by Ellen Christian

Do you know why I give back to the community? I give back, so others get help. Years ago, when my kids were little, we had a few very difficult years. We relied on the food shelf in our area every week to make it. I made a promise that when we could, we would give back, so other people didn’t struggle like we did. This post has been sponsored by The Motherhood, but the story is my own.

Why I Give Back to the Community

If you’ve never been to the food shelf in your community, I highly recommend you visit. It may open your eyes. I volunteered on the board of our food shelf for a few years, and it opened my eyes. Most food shelves rely on donations of money and food from charities and the local community. The food they get as a donation is given back to those in need. The money they receive is used to buy food from places to fill in the gaps.

Food shelves can only give so much, and it’s not unusual for them to run out of good, nutritious food before the end of the month. That’s unfortunate because the end of the month is also when many people’s benefits for food stamps run out as well. Some food shelves turn to less nutritious food in their supply at this time so instead of getting cans of soup, beef stew and tuna, they may need to give out crackers or cookies instead. Or, they may need to turn people away.

As the largest domestic hunger-relief organization, Feeding America is leading the fight against hunger in our country. They help by feeding people and by raising awareness of the issue across the country. They run mobile food pantries, school food pantries, and senior grocery programs. They help with disaster relief and the SNAP program (food stamps). They also help with summer lunch programs for kids that get free lunch during the school year and the backpack program which sends kids home with nutritious food for the weekends.  They do this with our voluntary donations. Just $1 provides 11 meals through their network food banks, and it’s very easy to donate.

With GoodWorld, you can give instantly to the causes you care about without leaving social media. Users can donate by simply commenting “#donate” with a dollar amount on a participating charity’s Facebook page/post (e.g., #donate $20), or tweeting “#donate” at the nonprofit’s Twitter handle. If you’re a first-time donor, you will receive a one-time link to register with GoodWorld and complete your donation.

Starting Dec. 12, GoodWorld is also hosting a special “12 Days of Giving” promotion to celebrate the season of giving. During the 12 Days of Giving, if you #donate to any GoodWorld nonprofit or sign up for GoodWorld you’ll be automatically entered for a chance to win a $1,000 Amazon gift card!

For more information on the 12 Days of Giving promotion, visit: http://bit.ly/1Om2cb9.

GoodWorld is giving away $1 million to their partner nonprofits this December as part of the Million Dollar Challenge. Anyone that #donates is considered a Social Giving Superhero, and will appear on the Wall of Fame.

As the pioneer of hashtag donations, GoodWorld allows social media users to directly contribute to the causes that they care about the most—making giving interactive, engaging and social. By typing “#donate” in the comment block of a GoodWorld partner charity’s Facebook page or by tweeting “#donate” at a charity, social media users trigger an immediate donation that is shared with their entire network.

It is a one-time sign up to be able to instantly #donate to any of GoodWorld’s 1,300 partner charities with just a comment, including the United Way, Save the Children, Humane Society, Greenpeace and the UN Foundation just to name a few.

Here are 25 random acts of kindness ideas you can use to give back.