As the holiday season approaches faster than ever, many people are feeling the giving spirit. The past couple of years have been rough, that goes without saying, and those who are fortunate enough to donate their time or money should. 

There are many volunteering and donation opportunities that begin to appear, especially during the holiday season. Many of these volunteer and donation centers are well known such as the Idaho Humane Society and Women’s and Children’s Alliance. These are great places to help out, however there are many more organizations to choose from. 

Morgan Neville, a very active member in the Boise community has offered some amazing groups to donate to that are less known. This includes the Boise Mutual Aid (Instagram @boisemutualaid), they post callings for aid directly for a person in the community. One of their most recent posts asks for donations of sleeping bags and heaters for the homeless population that has to sleep outside in the winter months. This is a great way to directly help the less fortunate, and their transparency allows you to know exactly where donations are going and how they would help people. 

Another organization that Neville shared was Add the Words Idaho. Their mission is to create a safe space for all people throughout Idaho. If you want to get involved, there are workshops to learn about advocating for equality and removing the fear of discrimation for all Idahoans. They also have a mutual aid to donate, similar to  Boise Mutual Aid. 

Many community led organizations that focus on advocating for those in a time of need or disrupting the discrimnation that is directly affecting the people of the Boise and Idaho  Community. Some of these are Youth Move Idaho, The Brick House, and Reclaim Idaho. The groups mentioned have more donation opportunities than volunteering positions. 

For many students, volunteering is a significant way to improve college applications, as well as pupils just looking for places that need help. A brilliant way to find these openings is the website volunteermatch.org. On the website, it is easy to input locations and interests to find a perfect volunteering match that can also be flexible for those with busy schedules.

The website has many different groups to connect with including the Ronald McDonald House, which provides housing for families whose children are in the hospital. Another place mentioned is the St. Vincent De Paul operation. They want people to provide assistance in the Boise Food Pantry, Christmas Toy Call Center, and the Mobile Food Pantry. 

Nicola Myers, president of the Humanitarian Club has offered some great ideas for ways to help and get involved. The club is organizing a volunteer training for the Humane Society on December 10th. Myers also mentioned that ways to help outside of the Humanitarian Club are through Onestone, The school has fantastic programs such as Project Good. 

Project Good is a group that allows high school volunteers to support elementary school children and mentor them along the way. One of these programs through Project Good is called Open Book Adventure, this allows a volunteer to mentor one elementary school student for a six week course. They read books together, practice writing skills, eat snacks, and have loads of fun .

Volunteering and connecting with the community one on one is an extremely fulfilling thing. During the holidays it’s especially important to give to those in need.