2016 has been rough for so many. Be as generous as you can.

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Christmas time is my thing. I buy a lot of gifts for a lot of people (over 40 people) and I downright spoil a few of them something awful.

I was scrolling through my Facebook feed the other day and saw an article about my city's "Christmas Bureau" having record high demand and near record low donations, especially gifts for teens.

There's no other language for it: This is right f****d. Proper f****d. I live in an extremely wealthy area, by global standards. Yes, the working class (myself included) are squeezed to their breaking point, but there are very VERY wealthy people here.. who do nothing to help the less fortunate. It's those just above the poverty line (me, and people like me) who give the most. And you know what? I'm okay with it. I can sleep better at night knowing I do what I can.

Today I went and bought nearly $400 worth of sporting goods and dropped them off at the Surrey Christmas Bureau. Are you f*****g kidding me, Vancouver, you millionaire a**holes? No, I know you're not.. I work for you. lol anyways, I did my part. Because kids just wanna play.

I also donated $100 to a local friend who has less than nothing herself who was trying to put together Christmas gifts for a family who's breadwinner father was just in a car accident and suffered brain damage. I have another $100 earmarked for a friend I used to work with who's kitchen fire has cost her $10,000 she doesn't have - and she's been a charitable person herself. And another $100 for a friend who's transitioning from male-to-female and has a gofundme page setup to help offset expenses.

I have been so incredibly blessed these last few years to be able to work and earn and save and invest and I figure if I can afford to spend money partying and to spend money spoiling my friends and family, I can & ought to do some good in the world around me. I wish more single childless people (especially gay men) were less materialistic and more charitable. I intend to do what I can to help change minds about this sort of thing, but for starters I'll just do my part and "be the change I want to see in the world," so to speak.

Eventually I hope that my income rises simply so I can do bigger better things for more people. Eventually.. that's the goal, but for now, I'll do what I can by joining the legions of broke consumers at holiday time.. but only because I've given what I can. Still all cash, zero debt, and still have my savings/investments that are growing etc so I'm not exactly putting myself in the poor house to do this.

Blah blah blah this is NOT intended to be shameless self promotion. Rather, I hope it inspires some of you to reach out to your less fortunate neighbours and do what you can to help them out, no matter how small a price or act - you have no idea how valuable it could be to someone else. The fact that you even thought of them would probably make them just melt.

Here's the haul I loaded in my sleigh and donated tonight:



I hope this post has inspired you to do even just one small random act of kindness, expecting nothing in return.

edit: The stuff in that pic represents every bottle of booze I'm not going to gift this year. All of the grown adults that would have received a bottle they don't need are going to get a Christmas card instead with a note explaining what I spent the money on instead.

That's really nice goldfish and i wish you well in the new year.

That's really nice of you. I hope you don't let people take advantage though.
I already donate to a local official homeless shelter myself, I usually dump whatever soups or food I'm not going to eat to a local food bank as it just takes up space.

This time of year is really hard on homeless people as it's so cold out. I never directly give them money though as you can end up funding a drug addiction or alcoholism, always care package type things.

That is very kind of you Goldfish, you understand the spirit of giving, and the Christmas spirit. Be blessed!

I understand your frustration with folk who can well afford to assist the less fortunate but don't. I try to do my bit despite being just above poverty line myself. I stood for several hours a few Saturdays ago (South Africa) to collect for the local Autism group and found a similar situation - the last lady to put something in the tin was an elderly lady in a wheelchair - whereas many a wealthy looking person walked right past. Generally I was satisfied with what we collected but more could have contributed something.

I kinda thought Canadians were more generous than Americans! After all even good quality secondhand goods are better than nothing at all.

I appreciate your valid concern, but, No, I do not. Sure, I've been ripped off in the past but within the last few years if I've been taken advantage of financially it's only been for a few dollars I was willing to write off anyways. This giving is 100% my choice. Sure, it leaves my chequing account a little empty until payday.. but I have other accounts. I'm not broke. I can afford to do this. In the future when my income & net worth are higher, I'll be able to afford to do bigger better things for more people.

^ Yeah I figured you'd be fine as you seem quite on the ball from some of your posts, but just making sure!
Unfortunately a common problem with a few of my aspie friends is they'll give money to people 'in need' who aren't genuine and this has put so many of them off donating because they couldn't tell when someone was being manipulative. It's really saddening. Good luck with your future financial endeavours though.

I'm fine.

Yeah, that's all too common & very maddening. Same for when seniors get ripped off. :/

I don't give to random people in need. I donate to a youth homeless shelter, and these items to my city's Christmas Bureau for gifts for underprivileged kids in very low income families. (very low earners, welfare, addicts, refugees etc) I give to a few other causes and also directly to friends who are going through hard times and fundraising for something via a gofundme page etc. I don't get conned. And thanks, I appreciate the good luck message! With a little luck and a lot of hard work I'll make better money over the years to come and then I can do bigger better nicer things.