Tis' the Season For Giving To Those Who Do Good!
Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, the holiday season has officially begun! It's a wonderful time of year, packed full of holiday cheer, parties with friends and families, and of course the giving and receiving of presents. Lots and lots of presents...
A week ago marked the official start to the holiday shopping season, Black Friday, traditionally the busiest shopping day for retailers all year. As the tradition goes, stores opened their doors at the break of dawn, luring in rabid shoppers eager to snatch up huge deals and discounts on their holiday gift giving. But in this difficult year of economic calamity and constant speak of recessions, depressions, budget deficits, and high unemployment, I wondered if Americans would really be lining up to quickly spend what's left of their hard earned dollars?
Apparently America wasn't too worried about these issues, as 2010 Black Friday holiday sales results showed improvement over last year's numbers. And out of a scene from the 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Jingle All the Way, news outlets reported huge stampedes and trampled shoppers at several large retail chains.
Just take a look at this madness!
This week's Newsweek cover story was on "The Urge to Splurge" and America's inability to stop spending, whether they can afford to or not. The article blamed "frugality fatigue" as reasoning for America's new drive to burn their money. And what does purchasing all this new stuff get us? Well, I urge you to watch this incredibly informative video on "The Story of Stuff". It's a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view.
Instead of just giving more stuff this year, why not instead donate money to a charity that does good all year long? Then, not only will you be rewarding those that do good and help others all year, you'll also be helping our planet. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving! And as you may have heard, we here at McKinney & Associates, have been huge supporters of Susan Burton and her "A New Way of Life Reentry Project", which provides sober housing and other support services for formerly incarcerated women in South Central Los Angeles. Susan was a top 10 nominee for CNN Heroe's for her incredible work, and though unfortunately she didn't end up winning that, she's still a winner in our book! And as a thank you for all their hard work and incredible dedication towards helping others, Facebook has agreed to open up donation pages on all the Top 10 CNN Heroe nominee's Facebook Fan pages! That means, through Dec. 31st you can log-onto Facebook, sign-up to be a fan of Susan Burton's A New Way of Life Reentry Project, choose the "Donate Now" tab and make an easy online supportive contribution to her wonderful work. Facebook is even donating its processing fees as part of the campaign!
Not a fan of Facebook? Well, the Los Angeles Times ran a story last week on Southern California charities seeking help for the holidays and how you can help as they face a surge in need and a drop-off in donations. Susan Burton and A New Way of Life were featured in this article and were noted as needing "women's undergarments, baby clothes, diapers, toiletries, cleaning supplies, grocery store gift cards, a cargo van, financial contributions and volunteers who can donate counseling, dental care, household maintenance and legal services." You can give directly to: PO Box 875288, Los Angeles, CA 90087. (323)-563-3575 or for more info visit: http://www.anewwayoflife.org/
Read the Article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-charity-list-20101125,0,6312125.story
Happy holidays everyone and please remember to give wisely!
Author’s ID: Ryan Duncan is the New Media Coordinator for McKinney & Associates and manages all web2.0 and social networking activities for the firm and it's clients. For more info visit: http://www.mckpr.com/
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