Giving Tuesday, established in 2012, is celebrated the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and serves to kick off the charitable nature of the holiday season. After the (often unneccessary) spending sprees of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday is a nice way to shift the focus toward helping those in need. Read more about the movement here, then check out some of our favorite local and national organizations below!
Comfort Cases
Did you know that most kids in foster care will carry their belongings from house to house in a trash bag? As a child, founder Rob Scheer experienced this himself, then relived it all again years later when he and his husband adopted their first child. Faced with this unacceptable reality, he set out to change the way we see foster children and how they view themselves by creating “comfort cases”, backpacks filled with essentials and everyday comforts. Four years and 20,000+ comfort cases later, Rob, his family and his team are working hard toward fulfilling their mission of making sure children in foster care feel a sense of dignity, belonging, and care.
THEARC
Officially opened in October 2005, The Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC) is a home away from home for the many underserved children and adults of Southeast Washington, DC, enabling them to participate in dance classes, music instruction, gardening, fine arts, academics, continuing education, mentoring, tutoring, recreation, medical and dental care, and other services at a substantially reduced cost or no cost at all. We’re proud to support THEARC in their mission to revitalize the area known as East of the (Anacostia) River.
DC Central Kitchen
DC Central Kitchen is one of those organizations that sets a great example of how to tackle an issue from all angles. While their overarching mission is to fight hunger in the DC area, they don’t just collect and distribute food donations to those in need, they also work preventatively by training unemployed adults in culinary arts careers and working with college student volunteers in The Campus Kitchens Project to teach and empower the next generation of leaders and community advocates. Food distribution efforts include the Community Meals initiative, which transforms donated and surplus groceries and produce into healthy meals, thr Healthy School Food program, which provides nutritious school lunches to low-income children throughout DC, and Healthy Corners, delivery fresh produce and healthy snacks to corner stores in DC’s food deserts.
Girls On The Run
Girls On The Run uses running as a vehicle to teach girls how to live healthy, joyful, confident lives. Their goal is to unleash girls’ potential and send them into the world boldly pursuing their dreams. GOTR has councils all over the country and you can volunteer as a coach for 8 week seasons to help get girls ready for a 5k or simply donate towards their efforts.
Pencils of Promise
This global organization is also in the business of working preventatively. Their mission is to build and supports schools in underserved parts of the world, currently including Ghana, Guatemala, Laos and Nicaragua, to help kids build a strong foundation for their future and the future of their communities. Some of the ways Pencils of Promise works to achieve this goal include providing teacher support to ensure students are being taught effectively and appropriately, physically building safe and comfortable school buildings, and implementing water and health programs to teach students about personal hygiene practices that will help keep them in the classroom.