Friday
Nov202009
Bloganthropy: Help me support the Christmas Exchange
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Christmas season usually creeps up on me. Slowly, but surely, over the course of the month of November I see more decorations, hear more Christmas songs, see more advertising and get invited to more seasonal events...just as the kids start to get into a panicked frenzy over the magic of it all and we get into a panicked frenzy over getting everything done in time. This year though, Christmas seems to have arrived with a bang. On November 1st, the stores made a swift switch from Halloween to Christmas, getting the season started earlier than ever it seems.
Christmas is wonderful and stressful at the best of times. But these are not the best of times for everyone. There are families whose stress is not about whether they can get it all done in time. Instead, their stress is about whether they can manage to put a small gift under the tree for their children. Whether they can possibly have a festive meal. Whether the electricity and heat will still be on come Christmas Day. Every year there are thousands and thousands of these families locally. Globally, there are more than 1.4 billion people living below the poverty line.
Here in Ottawa there is a wonderful charity called the Christmas Exchange. They help families in need by providing them with food vouchers and food hampers so that they can put some decent meals on the table during this holiday season. The community comes together through charity events, donations and volunteers working hard to help as many families as possible.
This year though, those efforts are falling short. There are fewer families who are able to donate. Many past donors are struggling to get by themselves because they may have gone from two incomes to one income or seniors who donated may have seen their retirement investments disappear. Not only is the number of donors down, but of course the number of families in need has increased as well. The global financial crisis has hit people hard around the world and its effects are being seen firsthand at the Christmas Exchange.
Marilyn Matheson, Executive Director of the Christmas Exchange said:
I've donated to the Christmas Exchange in the past and I plan to donate again this year. In fact, I've been inspired by a new initiative called Bloganthropy, to use my blog as a vehicle for my philanthropic efforts. I plan to donate 50% of my November revenue from the BlogHer ads program to the Christmas Exchange.
How can you help?
Please join me in spirit and in action in supporting the Christmas Exchange to help relieve some stress and put smiles on the faces of local families this Christmas.
Christmas is wonderful and stressful at the best of times. But these are not the best of times for everyone. There are families whose stress is not about whether they can get it all done in time. Instead, their stress is about whether they can manage to put a small gift under the tree for their children. Whether they can possibly have a festive meal. Whether the electricity and heat will still be on come Christmas Day. Every year there are thousands and thousands of these families locally. Globally, there are more than 1.4 billion people living below the poverty line.
Here in Ottawa there is a wonderful charity called the Christmas Exchange. They help families in need by providing them with food vouchers and food hampers so that they can put some decent meals on the table during this holiday season. The community comes together through charity events, donations and volunteers working hard to help as many families as possible.This year though, those efforts are falling short. There are fewer families who are able to donate. Many past donors are struggling to get by themselves because they may have gone from two incomes to one income or seniors who donated may have seen their retirement investments disappear. Not only is the number of donors down, but of course the number of families in need has increased as well. The global financial crisis has hit people hard around the world and its effects are being seen firsthand at the Christmas Exchange.
Marilyn Matheson, Executive Director of the Christmas Exchange said:
Last year Christmas Exchange was able to provide assistance to approximately 9,200 households, but we expect the requests for assistance this year to be 10,000 households, representing approximately 28,000 people. These are people just like you and me who have for what ever reason, hit hard financial times. If we can provide them with a food voucher or a food hamper for the holiday season, we can give them hope. But we can’t do this without the help of the community.
I've donated to the Christmas Exchange in the past and I plan to donate again this year. In fact, I've been inspired by a new initiative called Bloganthropy, to use my blog as a vehicle for my philanthropic efforts. I plan to donate 50% of my November revenue from the BlogHer ads program to the Christmas Exchange.
How can you help?
- Make a donation yourself (it is really easy to donate online using CanadaHelps.org)
- There are 10 days left in November. Choose a favourite post from my blog and share it with your friends on your blog, on facebook, on twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, Kirtsy, MomShare, by e-mail or whatever means you communicate with your friends. Every visit to my blog this month increases my November revenues and increases what I can donate to the Christmas Exchange.
- If you are here in Ottawa, you can attend one of the many fundraising activities.
Please join me in spirit and in action in supporting the Christmas Exchange to help relieve some stress and put smiles on the faces of local families this Christmas.
Reader Comments (9)
Great idea!
Kudos to you for trying to make a difference via your blog. I will do my part to promote your posts via Twitter and my blog. Good luck.
This really is a great idea.
Very cool - I just posted two of your posts to my facebook page and my facebook fan page. Oh, and I added your fanpage to my fanpage as a favorite! :)
@Missy: Thank you so much!
This is great ! We are concentrating on Montreal and I have donated money at the start of November to different charities through www.canadon.org (what a wonderful site). This weekend I plan on giving clothes and food. Tim Horton's sent a paper bag with the flyers this week and within 5 minutes I had filled it up with food. I'm giving my clothes to Fripperie Renaissance. It won't stop there because I plan on giving food every time I go grocery shopping.
It's terrible that so many people won't be able to enjoy the Holidays as much this year. I added your blog to my blogroll but I will add it to my other blog as well and put it on Facebook.
See, these are reasons you rock.
This is wonderful! My co-editor and I donate most of our revenue from our product review blog to charity and I love that you are making this commitment. Thank you, also, for mentioning Bloganthropy--we're hoping it will really create a space for talking about the giving that goes on in our blogging community and inspiring more.
I retweeted your post and, if you would like to do so, we'd love you to leave a link to your post on our facebook page (our site should be up and running, soon, but in the meantime the facebook page is an easy clearinghouse to share ideas, etc.).
Thanks everyone for your support! I just checked my November revenue report and I will be able to donate $45 to the Christmas Exchange.