Although this time of year is about gift-giving and receiv­ing for many peo­ple, we don’t always think about those who are very much in need all year round. As my kids are think­ing about what they want for Chanukah, I’m think­ing about ways to mit­i­gate the ram­pant con­sumerism so obvi­ous in Decem­ber with a greater sense of gen­eros­ity, char­ity, and a respect for peo­ple and our planet that is bal­anced all year round.

Recent events high­light the need for a more holis­tic approach to our per­sonal and uni­ver­sal prob­lems. Talks in my house­hold have been as much about poverty and other socioe­co­nomic issues as raised by the Occupy move­ment, as well as the inad­e­quate promises to curb cli­mate change made in Dur­ban this week, as they are about plan­ning and dec­o­rat­ing for hol­i­day cel­e­bra­tions. Com­ing from a place of respect and empa­thy, and extend­ing the natur­o­pathic prin­ci­ple of Tolle Totum (treat the whole) from the indi­vid­ual per­son to the com­mu­nity, soci­ety, planet and uni­verse, we can help bring bal­ance and heal­ing into the fore­front. The ety­mol­ogy of the word ‘con­tri­bu­tion’ best reveals this holis­tic, all-encompassing nature of both char­ity and activism. Com­ing from the words ‘com’ and ‘tribus’, mean­ing ‘add together’ and ‘tribe’ respec­tively, con­tri­bu­tion can be seen as the work of build­ing com­mu­ni­ties, both small and large.

Many indi­vid­u­als already incor­po­rate a rit­ual of giv­ing into this time of year. If this isn’t a prac­tice that you and your fam­ily already engage in on a reg­u­lar basis, this month is a great time to start a new tra­di­tion that you can carry through into 2012.

Set some time aside for this process — vol­un­teer, sit on a board, help cre­ate pos­i­tive change, and/or research where you want to focus your energy, money, etc… If you are look­ing for research, and con­sol­i­dated infor­ma­tion about orga­ni­za­tions you are con­sid­er­ing donat­ing to, visit Char­ity Intel­li­gence.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Children’s Book Bank — pro­vides free books and lit­er­acy sup­port to chil­dren in low-income neigh­bour­hoods; a great place to drop off your gently-used children’s books
• The Stop Com­mu­nity Cen­tre — works to increase access to healthy food in a man­ner that main­tains dig­nity, builds com­mu­nity and chal­lenges inequality
• June Call­wood Cen­tre — one of North America’s first cen­tres for teen par­ents and their chil­dren, they offer health ser­vices, coun­selling, edu­ca­tion, hous­ing, pre­na­tal classes and par­ent­ing groups and many types of prac­ti­cal support
• Ever­green — makes cities more liv­able by deep­en­ing the con­nec­tion between peo­ple and nature, and empow­er­ing Cana­di­ans to take a hands-on approach to their urban environments
• Bound­less Adven­tures — helps youth-at-risk attain their high school diplo­mas and pro­vide lead­er­ship in their com­mu­ni­ties through coun­selling, social reha­bil­i­ta­tion, alter­na­tive edu­ca­tion and out­door adventure
• Dis­tress Cen­tres Toronto — pro­vides 24-hour, year-round tele­phone sup­port to those expe­ri­enc­ing emo­tional dis­tress or in need of cri­sis inter­ven­tion and sui­cide pre­ven­tion, as well as face-to-face sup­port and coun­sel­ing to peo­ple deal­ing with the effects of sui­cide and homicide
• Kiva — con­nects peo­ple through lend­ing and micro­fi­nanc­ing to pro­vide safe, afford­able access to cap­i­tal to those in need, help­ing peo­ple cre­ate bet­ter lives for them­selves and their families