Giving Tuesday Kids Encourages Young People to Make a Difference After Thanksgiving
Courtesy of Giving Tuesday Kids
Everyone's familiar with Black Friday, which is arguably the biggest shopping day of the year. You might have also heard of Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday—two more opportunities to snag deals around town or online. Sure, patronizing local businesses and snagging 50 percent off baby gear is sweet, but if the annual post-Thanksgiving sale blitz has felt overly materialistic, you're not alone. It's the reason the Giving Tuesday was created in 2012.
Here's what you need to know about the philanthropic movement and its newest iteration: Giving Tuesday Kids.
The Story Behind Giving Tuesday
In 2012, New York’s 92nd Street Y partnered with the United Nations Foundation to found Giving Tuesday as "a day that encourages people to do good." The global movement was meant to inspire people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity, and it has done just that by encouraging participants to spend the Tuesday after Thanksgiving getting out into their communities and taking action that gives back in some way.
According to website, "Giving Tuesday strives to build a world in which the catalytic power of generosity is at the heart of the society we build together, unlocking dignity, opportunity and equity around the globe. We believe that generosity leads to greater civic participation and other pro-social behaviors. Our mission is to build a more just and generous world."
Recently, Giving Tuesday announced the debut of Giving Tuesday Kids, a global youth-led social change movement that’s all about encouraging young people to take action around the causes and people they care about on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
How Kids Can Get Involved
The Giving Tuesday site provides a variety of existing projects and ideas for kids around the country. Participants might opt to reduce waste in their school's cafeteria, lead a recycling project, replenish school supplies their teachers might have depleted, or "green up" their school by delving into resource conservation and energy use. A few more examples:
Feed the hungry: #HashtagLunchBag
Make healthy sacked lunches for people who are hungry and deliver them after school. Include a kind note and you’ll fill not only their bellies but their souls. Visit HashtagLunchBag.org to get started.
Create a Giving Tuesday wall
Find a blank wall or place a large board in a public space. Write an instructions plaque reading: “Write your vision for a more generous world!” or “What will you do today to make the world better?” Let everyone fill in their notes and place them on the wall to showcase how their efforts to do good in a small scale can add up to something really big.
Make care packages for people experiencing homelessness
Think about your daily necessities, then consider that people experiencing homelessness might not have access to those items. Collect things like wipes, socks, deodorant, hand sanitizer, granola bars, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bottled water. Distribute these care packages to anyone who may want one.
Kids can learn more about how to Join the Movement by reading the Participation Guide for inspiration and project ideas, or by heading to GivingTuesdayKids.org.
