For many people, the holiday season is a time of giving. Giving presents to your friends and family, but also giving to charity.
But if donating time is more of your thing, we’ve rounded up some ways you can give back that cost nothing, except maybe a few pints of blood.
Days For Girls
If you’re good with a sewing needle, you can register to sew a Days for Girls kit. Days for Girls provides sanitary products to girls and women around the world, and relies on volunteers to sew the reusable shields and liners included in the kits. You can find a local group to join, or register as an independent sewist.
Blood Donations with the Red Cross
If you’re not any good with a sewing needle, but can handle being jabbed with one, consider donating blood this holiday season. One in three Australians will need blood in their lifetime, but only one in 30 Australians give blood each year. Demand for blood is only increasing, so if you’re eligible to donate but never have, consider making this your Christmas present to the world.
Help out at one of the Red Cross’ operations
The Red Cross is almost always looking for volunteers to help out in their stores around the country, especially in the lead-up to the busy Christmas period. They only ask for about four hours of your time each week, so it’s a great option for students or casual workers who aren’t working 9-5 days.
Or you can volunteer with the Red Cross Telecross Call Centre, where they call elderly people to check on their wellbeing, or as a Learner Driver Mentor, helping learners meet those driving hour requirements, or as a mentor or child minder.
Gig Buddies
If you’re based in Sydney and love going to concerts, joining Gig Buddies is a sound way to give back. You’re matched with a buddy who has a learning disability or autism and who shares your interests, and you and your buddy check out all Sydney has to offer, whether it’s a concert or a night out on the town.
Sydney Story Factory
If you’re passionate about the positive power of storytelling, consider volunteering with Sydney Story Factory. You don’t need to be a writer or a teacher to volunteer with them, just patient, kind, and imaginative. The majority of volunteers help tutor students, but there are other volunteer options including illustrating work, typing up students’ work, audio visual work, and staffing their retail space.
If this sounds like your kind of thing but you aren’t in Sydney, there’s most likely a local group doing similar work – for example, if you’re in Melbourne, check out 100 Story Building!
The Smith Family
The Smith Family is currently looking for thousands of volunteers to help put together toy and book packs to distribute to disadvantaged children around Australia in time for Christmas. They’re also after delivery day drivers, support staff to volunteer at the venue on delivery day, and people to help with stocktake and packing up.
The Welcome Dinner Project
If you’re an enthusiastic cook, this volunteering opportunity would be a fantastic way to show off your skills. The Welcome Dinner Project encourages connections between people who are new to Australia and locals over a meal, because nothing brings people together like food.
You can register to host a dinner, attend a dinner, or become a facilitator, depending on whether you’re better at cooking or eating.
Clean Up Australia
While Clean Up Australia Day takes place every year in March, the organisation is hard at work cleaning up sites around the country year-round. You can find a clean up site near you and register to participate in community clean ups on a recurring basis, or you can register a site that needs cleaning up.
And if plants are your thing, the Friends of Lane Cove National Park work within Lane Cove National Park on a regular basis to help restore the bushland to its native state. The Friends of the Royal National Park do similar work in the Royal National Park in Sydney’s south.
Fostering Animals
If your landlord allows pets (which they should if you’re in Victoria, thanks to the new laws), consider fostering an animal, especially if you’re considering getting a pet but don’t feel ready to commit to a decade or more of pet care.
If you’re in Sydney, you can foster through the Sydney Dogs and Cats Home or the Mini Kitty Commune. Both of those organisations are also after other kinds of volunteers, including admin work, transporting animals, or cat socialisation and kitten cuddles, which sounds perfect, please sign me up immediately!
If you’re in Victoria, you can foster through Forever Friends Animal Rescue or the Lost Dogs’ Home.
And if there’s an RSPCA near you, they also have foster care programs.
Giving back is a great way to spread joy during the holiday season, and it doesn’t have to cost you a cent. But it sure will leave you feeling hella enriched.