December 20, 2020
Giving Gifts That Give Back This Holiday Season
I’m just not the gift card kind of gift giver. Nope. I much prefer to completely push myself to the brink of sanity finding the exactly perfect, most meaningful and incredibly memorable gift for each person on my list.
To reduce some of the stress 2020 has already gifted us, I’ve compiled this Gifts that Give Back list to help you with your holiday planning — and I still have my sanity.
Host with the most – Never show up empty handed.If you’re attending a small, socially distanced holiday gathering or a virtual celebration, Feeding Tampa Bay has the perfect gifts for any host. Their branded water bottle and tote bags are great host gifts to always have on hand. Best of all, proceeds help ensure hungry families have a healthy meal all year round.
Playfully awe-inspiring – Ah, the gift of discovery (and getting the family out of the house!). A membership to the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature keeps your family on their toes with new adventures to discover with each visit. Plus, when you purchase before Dec. 31, you receive two additional months of benefits like discounts and unlimited admission. You can gift a membership packaged with the cutest plush manatee in a Bishop hoodie or other fun stuff from the museum’s gift shop – proceeds support the museum’s mission.
Running into 2021 – A gift for fit friends that is way better than yet another set of elastic shoelaces. The Lion’s Eye Institute Foundation is offering a special $25 early registration (through the month of December) for its annual Roar Through Ybor race. The 5K road race and 1-mile fun run takes place in April 2021 and raises money for organ, eye, and tissue donation. All race registration revenue benefits LifeLink Legacy Fund and Lions Eye Institute Foundation.
Carefully-crafted cards – Unique. Artful. Meaningful. These cards beat out anything you’ll find in the aisles of Hallmark. As part of the Healing Arts Program at Florida Cancer Specialists, this pack of cards and envelopes features unique artwork designs from local cancer patients. All proceeds benefit the Florida Cancer Specialists Foundation, which provides non-medical financial support to cancer patients.
Dashing through the store – Just by doing your holiday shopping, you can provide healthy meals to families experiencing hunger in the suburban Chicagoland and Northern Illinois area. From packs of Michelob Ultra and Stella Artois to your many (and I mean many) Target runs, local stores are donating proceeds from sales to Northern Illinois Food Bank. Here’s a list of all the participating stores and products you can shop to help make a difference.
Donations done right – Donating in someone’s name can still elicit all the excitement of any other gift that would have found its way to next year’s white elephant exchange. We’ve created these downloadable and printable cards along with a suggested list of places to donate so that giving back is just as exciting as getting gifts.
-
United Way Suncoast: Focusing on early literacy, youth success, and adult financial stability, donations to the United Way Suncoast provide people with the opportunities and resources they need to move forward and build new futures in a caring community.
-
Crisis Center of Tampa Bay: This is often a tough time for many people in our community as depression rates tend to increase around the holidays with heightened anxiety, family issues and financial pressures. Donations to the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay help ensure no one in our community has to face crisis alone.
-
Community Care Fund by The AdventHealth Foundation: The AdventHealth Foundation West Florida Division has created a special fund called the Community Care Fund dedicated to supporting COVID-19 efforts that maintain and improve the safety of their patients, families of their patients, and their team members.
-
MacDonald Training Center (MTC): When on-site programs were suspended mid-March due to the stay-at-home order, MTC quickly launched virtual learning programs. Donors can support this transition through the laptop loan program. Donating to this program will enable students to maintain hard-won progress toward job training, certification, placement.
