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How to Give to Others. Give to others by using any number of ways to find others who need
a helping hand in less-than-ideal circumstances. You will need Comfort Donations Small gestures
Mentoring and volunteer work. Step 1. Comfort someone in grief, after learning of their
loss. Often a hug, a helpful hand, a kind word, and a listening ear will mean a lot
to someone who feels they have nothing. Step 2. Donate items you don't use. Ask loved ones
to divert money intended for your gifts at Christmas to benefit those who need something
more than you do. Search websites like CharityNavigator.org for a list of charities and how to contact
them. Money, clothes, cars, and toys are great donation options. Step 3. Encourage someone
paralyzed by grief or depression to take action, whether doing funeral arrangements, setting
a doctor's appointment, conducting a job search, or making a simple phone call. Making them
help themselves may start the healing process. Sometimes the best thing you can give others
is themselves. Step 4. Speak out or lobby for the powerless, the homeless, and the neglected.
Even signing a petition or writing letters is a gift to more people than you can imagine.
Step 5. Offer to babysit, pick up around someone's house, shovel the walk, cut the lawn, pick
up groceries, and any of a hundred other small gestures that lighten someone's load. Step
6. Mentor people to plan and discipline themselves in improving their attitude, finding their
path, or achieving a dream. We all need someone to believe in us. Step 7. Volunteer with international
aid organizations that work to fight disease and to build developing nations or labor in
disaster zones. Did you know Nearly 23 percent of the unemployed volunteered to help others
in 2009, during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.