There's Still Time to Give the Best Gift Ever

While we love wrapping and unwrapping as much as the next girl, we realize the very best gift we could possibly give this Christmas is to help someone in need. And those in need hit record-breaking numbers this year. So before you wrap up all of your Christmas shopping, may we suggest giving just one more gift while you’re at it? Options abound from calling your local shelters, churches, orphanages, hospitals and nursing homes to find out what they most need to picking a card off of an Angel Tree at your local mall to actually ponying up some change for those bell-ringing Santas who magically appear at every store entrance this time of year. But because we realize that time is the best gift we can give to you right now, we’ve provided some links to charities and sources that will help you donate online in an instant.

Family Giving Tree – lets you fulfill a child’s holiday gift wish online.

My Stuff Bags Foundation — provides comfort and a message of hope to abused and neglected children entering crisis and foster care via donated blankets, stuffed animals and more.

Angel Tree – connects parents in prison with their children through the delivery of Christmas gifts. Right now, just $11.44 will deliver love to not one but two children of inmates and their families.

Sleep Train Foster Kids – provides new shoes, clothing, coats and school supplies to thousands of foster children in California.

SOS Children’s Villages – provides loving homes for orphaned and abandoned children in 132 countries. Choose a unique gift from the Holiday Dream Catalog, from toys and clean clothes to school lunches, medical care and more.

God’s Love We Deliver – delivers nutritious meals to people who are too sick to cook for themselves.

Kiva — enables you to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe, so that he/she can create a business that will help sustain his/her family and/or community.

Any Soldier — it may be too late to get a Christmas package to our men and women who won’t be home for the holidays, but it’s never too late to show you care.

“Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, it’s at the end of your arm. As you get older, remember you have another hand. The first is to help yourself, the second is to help others.” — Audrey Hepburn