Yes yes yes, we’re all very excited about Christmas; eating our body weight in beige coloured food and adorning ourselves in all our lovely new Christmas presents, but some people out there aren’t going to have as wonderful a Christmas as you. Whether they're one of the four million children in the UK living in poverty, one of the 400,000 older people spending Christmas alone or one of the nearly million people relying on food banks, there's plenty of people out there who could do with your help this Christmas.
Luckily, there are a few ways you can hel, here's how:
If you’ve only got ten seconds
You wouldn’t let a kid go without a present at Christmas right? Cash for Kids and Magic Radio’s Christmas appeal allows you to donate £5 (that’s like, one and a half glasses of wine you could definitely do without this weekend) to buying one of the 4 million children living in poverty in Britain a Christmas present. Just text MISSION to 70070.
If you’re heading to the supermarket anyways
Food banks are always in need more stuff – especially around this time of the year. If you do want to donate a couple of cans of whatever to people that need them then head to the TrusselTrust.org to find out where your nearest one is. Most list the types of food they’re short of so they don’t end up with like, 9000 cans of baked beans, which is helpful. You can also donate cash by texting FBUK14 to 70070 or volunteer your time here.
If you can’t think what to buy your mum
Chances are your mum would probably appreciate a really meaningful Christmas present. Centrepoint’s Christmas Gifts mean you can buy young homeless people everything from Christmas dinners to health checks to counselling sessions to a set of toiletries, all in your mum’s name. Which is much better than another pair of pyjamas.
If you’re buying yourself lunch
Put the fact that you’re too lazy to make packed lunches to good use and head to Pret to pick up an item from their Christmas Menu to donate cash to their #Sharethehope campaign. 10p from each soup sold throughout the year and 5p from every marked item at Christmas goes to helping deliver Pret’s unsold food to the needy, helping vulenerable people get back into unemployment and various homeless charities.
If you need to cancel out all the Christmas chocolate you’ve been eating
Even though running sounds like the hardest thing like, ever right now, if you do decide to try and do something healthy in December, make sure you do it with Good Gym. The idea is simple – combine your run with a quick stop off at the house of a less-mobile person in your area. Either drop off something nice or just have a cup of tea, it’s a really good way to give potentially lonely people a bit of human interaction.
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Follow Jess on Twitter @Jess_Commons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.