The time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is known as the yearly giving season with family get-togethers, gift-giving between relatives and friends, and Secret Santa events in the workplace. Unfortunately, segments of every community get left behind or can struggle to join in on the holiday celebrations.

If you work for a company that sponsors charitable programs or would like your workplace to get involved in your community, Christmas volunteer opportunities are everywhere. Volunteering as a team during the holidays can make a significant impact on your community. It can also be a very special team-building and motivating activity.

How do you get your company on board to participate in holiday volunteer opportunities? What does it take to organize your volunteer team? And what are the top ways to give back during the holidays? Let’s look at 14 ways your office can give back to the community, and how to get management to sign off on your plan.

Who Needs a Helping Hand During the Holidays?

Underprivileged children and families, the elderly, and homeless people are in need more than ever during the holiday season. Your workgroup can find existing Christmas volunteer opportunities to join and help these groups collect and distribute gifts and food.

Another segment of the community with a unique set of obstacles during the holidays are first responders, the military, and others who are isolated from holiday celebrations because of their jobs or health conditions.

A third group is the invisible needy—individuals who are having a tough time with the holidays for any number of personal reasons.

Your work team can have an impact on any of these groups during the holidays. Here are some traditional Christmas volunteer opportunities and a few creative ways to give back during the holidays.

5 Traditional Christmas Volunteer Opportunities

1. Serve Food at a Soup Kitchen or Homeless Shelter

The holidays bring larger numbers of those in need to homeless shelters and soup kitchens. They can use help preparing and serving meals. You can find information and get in touch with shelters and kitchens near you from Feeding America.

Keep in mind that many of these facilities require background checks for volunteers and have waiting lists for actual holiday days like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Find out and give yourself plenty of time to fulfill these requirements. Volunteer on days surrounding the actual holiday—the need is always there, and it might be easier and more impactful to find pre- and post-Christmas volunteer opportunities. Shelters need help year-round for breakfast service. If there’s a shelter close to your office, team members can stop by for a volunteer shift on their way to work.

2. Sort and Distribute Food at a Food Bank

Food banks coordinate the donations, preparation, and distribution of food over a large geographical area to the local shelters, soup kitchens, and pantries in nearby communities. Most of these facilities handle tons of food that come in huge packages weekly, which requires many hours of help to break items down and package them in individual portions.

Lending a hand at a local food pantry is ideal if you have a large group that can split up to work different days or shifts. You can get more information and schedule volunteer days through FindFoodBank.org.

3. Adopt a Family or Two for the Holidays

Programs like Adopt-a-Family and Adopt-a-Child for the holidays are established in many communities and are easy to join. Here’s how it works: The family or child makes a list of things they would like or need. Your work group shops for, collects, and then donates the items. Sometimes the wish lists include toys for children. Other lists include basic necessities like laundry detergent and essential household items or even ingredients for a Christmas dinner.

Many religious organizations and even hospitals sponsor adopting programs. The Salvation Army also coordinates this type of program across the U.S. through Angel Tree.

4. Join the Marines to Give Toys to Tots

The U.S. Marine Corps started the Toys for Tots program in 1947 to collect toys for children who would otherwise have nothing to open on Christmas morning. When your organization participates in the toy drive, the Marines provide everything from posters to promote the program to collection boxes. You just have to motivate your co-workers to give. 

5. Put a Roof Over Someone’s Head

You’ve probably heard of Habitat for Humanity, the organization that builds homes for those without them. Habitat has lots of holiday volunteer opportunities, as well as the need for volunteers year-round.

Your work team can volunteer to help someone have Christmas in their first home. If you live in a climate where outdoor construction is not viable in the winter, Habitat Re-Stores are retail locations that sell their leftover homebuilding materials along with other donations. The stores need volunteers to help with inventory, stocking shelves, unloading trucks, and other tasks.

9 Out-of-the-Gift-Box Christmas Volunteer Opportunities

1. Treat Your Community’s First Responders

Firefighters, EMS, and medical personnel don’t get to take holidays off. Make cookies or gift baskets to drop off at firehouses, police stations, and emergency rooms around town. You can get everyone involved in this project, with some team members baking cookies, others assembling baskets, and others making deliveries.

2. Host a Party for Children in the Hospital

Check with your local children’s hospital for Christmas volunteer opportunities. See if you can throw a party for one or more departments. You can make it a fun theme that children will relate to, like “Polar Express” or “Frozen.” Not only are you treating the children to a special holiday event, but you’re also taking some of the burden from parents who aren’t sure how to have a holiday for their child in the hospital or can’t afford anything extra.

3. Donate Clothing or Make Blankets or Caps for Newborns in the NICU

Items like blankets, warm hats, mittens, and onesies can go home with the little ones after their hospital stay, so there is always a need. If the hospital doesn’t use your items between November and January, they’ll be glad to have them on hand for the rest of the year.

Remember the preemie baby parents too, with ornaments or hand-written notes. This time of year can be tough on families with infants in the hospital. Reaching out with warmth would be much appreciated.

4. Make (or Buy) Blankets for Cancer Patients

If you don’t have a cancer clinic in your community, reach out to the cancer department of your local hospital to see what they need for the holidays. Find out how many patients they’ll see during the holidays for chemotherapy and provide blankets for them to cuddle up during their treatment.

You can find instructions for easy-to-make fleece blankets that require no sewing, just cutting and knotting. Reserve an open conference room or use a corner of your cafeteria to set up a workstation with all the supplies for team members to make blankets during the day. Kick it off with one or more group “DIY” meetings to go through the instructions and build camaraderie and interest in the project.

5. Go A-Caroling in a Nursing Home or Assisted Living

Some nursing homes and assisted living residents will not be going home to spend time with their families. Bring a little cheer with a caroling party or sing-along.

If you’ve got musicians among you, add guitar or piano accompaniment. You can sing in a common area or split into groups and go from room to room. Team members who would rather not sing can distribute candy canes, encourage residents to take part, or just sit with residents to provide some company.

7. Make and Send Christmas Cards to the Troops

Your local Red Cross can get names of soldiers from your community who are stationed away from home in the U.S. or overseas through its Holidays for Heroes program. Your team can write cards with kind words and a holiday wish that can be heart-warming for someone who misses family during the holidays. Just provide blank cards to your co-workers to get them started.

8. Take to the Streets to Help People Who Are Homeless

Many of homeless people don’t utilize the services of local shelters. Your local social service agencies can put you in touch with groups that regularly reach out to those living on the street or in homeless encampments. This group is always in need of socks, blankets, gloves, and personal hygiene items.

Collect these items at your office to help social service groups who routinely visit homeless people, or see if you can join along with them to distribute items.

9. Pay It Forward With Random Acts of Kindness

Everyone can use a little anonymous holiday cheer, and you never know who might be having an especially stressful time dealing with the holidays or just life in general. It makes someone feel cared for when a stranger reaches out.

Attach notes to candy canes with holiday wishes and bring them to the office for co-workers to hand out. Encourage team members to use them when checking out at the grocery store, in line at the coffee shop, or in a parking garage. You can add to the holiday good will by paying for a stranger’s parking or cup of coffee. Be creative and share your experiences with your team members!

How to Get the Holiday Volunteering Ball Rolling in Your Office

Depending on the size of your company, you may need to spend more time looking for volunteer opportunities that can include a large or small group of team members. If your company doesn’t offer paid volunteering days, you also may need to make a formal presentation and get approval from management to participate in Christmas volunteer opportunities during work hours. Once approved, take charge by planning the details and logistics to make it easy for your co-workers to participate.

Here are four steps to take when planning your company’s Christmas volunteer opportunities.

1. Find Local Organizations That Need Help

One nice thing about volunteering during the holiday season is that many holiday volunteering programs are already in place. Before trying to recreate the wheel or get management’s endorsement, you can do some research upfront to find the right opportunity for your workplace.

A good place to start is your local United Way. UW is a clearing house in most communities for most bona fide charities. They will have contact information and an overview of what Christmas volunteer opportunities are in your community.

You can also ask if any employees are involved with organizations that offer ways to give back during the holidays. This can include houses of worship, service organizations like Lions and Rotary Club, Boy and Girl Scout troops, schools, and hospitals.

2. Get Approvals From Management

You’ll most likely need management approval to volunteer, especially if the activity involves company expenses or takes place during normal work hours.

Before making the ask, put together a brief logistics plan. For example, if you’re participating in a food drive, set a timeline that includes deadlines for collecting food, locations in your building to collect, who will do what, etc. Like any good business plan, devise a way to measure and communicate results to everyone in your company. Think of the posters of thermometers that get filled in as donations come through a telethon, and be creative with your own measurement device. Present the plan and get the ok before proceeding.

3. Organize the Giving or Volunteering Event at Your Workplace

You’ve got the outline of a plan. You can now get going on your project. Get as many employees involved as possible by sending out a company-wide announcement and information on how to get involved. Then, set times for regular update meetings. Be ready with a list of tasks or dates and times so volunteers can jump right in and plan around a volunteering event. Involving a member of upper management is a great way to encourage employee participation.

4. Share Progress With Your Company

Have regular meetings with your volunteers to give progress updates or share stories and experiences from the activity. Be sure the program is discussed in your email newsletter, all-hands meeting, or bulletin board to encourage more current and future participation. Be sure to wrap up the holiday season by reporting results with something as simple as a collection of photos on your lunchroom bulletin board or a special newsletter that goes out to all employees at the end of the year.

Find a Company Where Giving Is a Priority

Look around, and you’ll see companies in every community charged up about finding Christmas volunteer opportunities. Monster can help you find jobs with companies that support community involvement and giving back year-round. Complete your Monster profile and tell us what kind of job and employer you’re looking for. You’ll be featured in the list of Monster’s candidates that employers see when they visit Monster to fill open positions. We’ll also fill your inbox with job postings and career advice to help your search.

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Megan Dawkins Career Industry Editor

Megan Dawkins is a career industry editor who empowers job seekers to take control of their career paths using Monster’s comprehensive job search and resume tools. She specializes in helping job seekers navigate the flexible job market.

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