If you live in Southern California, you probably got the phone blast telling us that we are going on our second lockdown. When the first lockdown in March set in, millions of people lost their jobs. With the holiday season here and so many families who are in a tough spot due to the pandemic, many of them won’t be able to celebrate their own traditions. As a way to get more involved and knowledgeable in your community, here are some ways to make someone’s holidays spectacular. 

If you celebrate Christmas and love spreading the Christmas spirit, this is the perfect organization to participate in. It is called Be An Elf: you would pick a Santa letter to fulfill since he is too busy with the reindeers, purchase the items, then mail them directly to children. It may not seem like a big impact but to the special boys and girls who receive these gifts it means the world. If you have the necessities, mail your letter to Santa like usual. If you don’t, they have a page on their website where you can send your letter to an address where it will be put in the system for someone to be your elf. Though not affiliated with the U.S. Postal Service’s program Operation Santa (which ends on Dec. 19), Be An Elf has been recruiting members for it since 2004. If you can’t be an elf, you can always donate to another holiday gift organization called Toys For Tots and make a kid’s Christmas a bit brighter. About 84% of their money raised goes towards collecting and distributing new toys for children. You can select gifts you would like to pay for and donate them; it may be an easier option if you can’t go to stores. 

However, with the holiday season arriving, more people will have meet-ups, leading to a spike in cases. 

“The next few months of the COVID-19 pandemic will be among the most difficult in the public health history,” said Centers for Disease Control director Dr. Robert Redfield.

It will be an extremely rough time for the first responders and health workers. One organization like CDC Foundation has been helping them; you can help by paying for the needed equipment during this pandemic. With over 1,700+ partnerships dealing with global health problems, their impact has been felt in over 140 countries.

Food is a big issue this year due to the loss of income, so donating to organizations like Feeding America. For 40 years, Feeding America has been one of the largest charitable food assistance networks. They work with 200 food banks and 60,000 food partners across the U.S. to provide billions of meals for those in need. Another choice is to help populations that are the most likely to contract the virus. Meals on Wheels spends 90% of their donations on delivering meals, friendly visits, and safety checks for our vulnerable seniors.

There are so many other organizations that you can donate to or volunteer for, but here are just a few. Every penny counts and remember to keep social distance and wear a mask whenever you are out so we can slow this virus down and stop it once and for all.

Graphic courtesy of ECONCONSULTANCY.COM