Christmas is a time that everyone thinks of gift giving.  The following article talks about the benefits of meaningful experiences as being of more benefit that objects.  Of particular interest is the value of volunteering.

Whilst many people want to volunteer at Christmas time*, the greatest gift to our clients and benefit to St Vincent de Paul Society (and indeed any other charity) is for people to register as volunteers at anytime of the year and to help out whenever possible to address the needs at hand.

* St Vincent de Paul Society does not conduct large public lunches at Christmas time (people often ring us to ask). We have shelters for the homeless and Christmas lunches provided within them are assisted by our regular volunteers. The only type of Christmas-specific activities that people can help us with is are gift wrapping, giving tables, giving trees or corporate fundraising within your workplace. If you wish to help with any of these, please compelete the Register Your Interest form and put in the Further Comments field ‘gift wrapping’; ‘giving tables’; ‘giving tree’ or ‘fundraising’. Someone will then get in touch with you to let you know what to do next. You will not have to do a Society Introduction to participate in these activities.