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Volunteering Opportunities In Union County This Holiday Season

  • Writer: mannkarissa
    mannkarissa
  • 4 days ago
  • 3 min read

The holiday season often brings feelings of togetherness and abundance to homes across the world. The simple gift of being surrounded by people you love while giving and receiving seasonal bliss is what makes this time of year so special, but for some, December brings more stress than it does joy. While countless families are sitting around a packed dinner table and passing around plates, many others are scraping together whatever they can find to survive. However, there is a way to relieve some of the pressure these families experience during this season: volunteering. Here are just a few ways you can help out:


  1. Hearts of People Everywhere (HOPE) Christmas Bureau

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Hearts of People Everywhere Logo


Hearts of People Everywhere, or HOPE, is a non-profit organization in Union County formed by volunteers to assist families in need. Their mission is to support the Christmas Bureau of Union County and collaborate with establishments to provide families not only with basic necessities, but also the simple joys of the holiday season.


HOPE supports the Union County Christmas Bureau, which is an effort of many UC businesses to meet the needs and wants of low-income families during the holidays. What started as providing a few hundred families with toys and food in 1979, has grown into a huge movement for thousands of families to enjoy toys, warm clothes, and hot meals at the busiest and most expensive time of the year.


You can get involved by visiting the HOPE website (https://hopeunioncounty.org) and signing up to complete tasks like packaging food boxes, stuffing stockings, working with wishlists, and doing donation inventory. Their events last for about three hours-- a short time to make an insurmountable difference.



  1. Heart For Monroe Feed 5000

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Heart For Monroe Feed 5000 Program Logo


Heart For Monroe is a non-profit organization originally idealized in the Dominican Repiblic after a group of volunteers realized the needs of the people in the DR were similar to the needs of people in Monroe. Heart For Monroe focuses on three primary issues in Union County: hunger, homelessness, and education. Not only do they help to ease these problems in the community, but also create lasting relationships with the families they work with.


Heart For Monroe is hosting a project for the holiday season called "Feed Five Thousand." The program collects non-perishable items for holiday meals and gift cards so families can purchase turkey or ham. This effort not only gives people in need hot, filling meals for Christmas, but allows them to have the flexibility to choose the main dish that works best for them.


To learn more about this effort, visit the Heart For Monroe website (https://heartformonroe.com/event-feed-five-thousand/) and register to become a volunteer. You can help out with food distribution, cooking, and participant traffic and registration. You can even purchase a t-shirt for $5 to contribute further and make the experience last as long as the fabric does!


  1. Feeding America

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Feeding America Logo


Feeding America is a non-profit organization that works with food retailers to rescue food that would otherwise go to waste and provide it to families in need through local food pantries. They also respond to disasters that cause food crises and conduct research on food insecurity in various communities.


One program they're running this holiday season is a virtual food drive. By donating just $1, you can provide ten meals to the community, which is a lot more than if you were to purchase food from a store for donation. Because Feeding America works directly with food manufacturers, they're able to acquire large amounts of food for a minimal cost and have as significant of an impact as possible.


If you want to help, check out the Feeding America website (https://teamfeed.feedingamerica.org/events/619) and click "donate" for a quick and easy payment. You can even sign up as a team and raise funds through your own organization for donation!


Conclusion

This time of year, it's important to not only give back to our family and friends-- but also to our community. We often get so caught up in our own struggles that we neglect the even deeper struggles of the people around us. There are more people in need out there than we may expect, and even the smallest commitments can make a world of a difference for them. So whether you dedicate a few hours of your time to stuffing stockings or donate a dollar, you are making the holidays a little more magical for the people who have it the hardest.


Here is a list of the sites again:

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