Thanksgiving donations... Please advise!

[Meshuga]

Hello,

As a Thanksgiving tradition I would like to donate some money to help the hungry. I don't have a lot of money but I believe a little donation would make a difference.

Does anybody here in DU know a good place to make a donation that will help the hungry or the homeless that will not force religion down their throats?

I have nothing against religion, I appreciate their work but I'm sure there are organizations that help the poor and are not worried about forcing religious believes on the people they help.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Happy Thanksgiving to all DU'ers and their families!

Thanks is advance!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. Donate directly to a local soup kitchen

Then you know it goes more towards your goal than administration.

[Shakespeare]

4. Excellent idea - and most of them are in dire need of help right now.

The economy being what it is, more people than ever are relying on them. :-(

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. So much of this admin reminds me of the Reagan years

[OneBlueSky]

2. many communitis have local or regional food banks

here in the Hudson Valley, there's a regional food bank that you can donate to when you go food shopping . . . there's a pad of three kinds of tickets hanging at each cashier's station: $1, $3, and $5 . . . all you do is select the one you want and hand it to the cashier . . . it gets added to your total, and the food bank gets the amount of your donation . . . personally, I just send them a check each holiday season . . . there's also a local food bank that's affiliated with the regional bank . . . sometimes I'll buy a case of four canned hams (when they're on sale) and drop it off there . . . feels good to give so someone else can enjoy a nice holiday meal . . . :)

[SoCalDem]

3. You can get a name of a poor family from a church

and adopt them.. My women's group does this.. We buy the usual holiday trimmings, and presents, but we take it one step further.. We adopt them for the year.. birthday cakes for the kids, mother's day for mom, school supplies for the kids, etc..

People are always generous at holiday time,. but people have needs all year long..

By doing it one family at a time, you can often really affect their lives too.. The Mom & 2 kids we adopted a few years back, really were helped.. The Mom had an old junker car, and the husband of one of our members owned a car repair place, and he donated time & parts to get her car running.. Another woman had an in with someone who gave Mom a job.. After a year they were well on their way to being much better off, and having some of the pressure off of her made her a much better mom too..:)

You do not have to "go through" the church..we just got the name of the family and then showed up with the goodies.. We got a tree, presents, food (not just the big dinner, but canned goods, laundry soap,and various staples).. Having the pressure off for a little while allowed mom to get caught uo ..