How to Help the People in Need

Co-authored by Justin Barnes

Last Updated: April 18, 2024 References

Someone you know somewhere might be in trouble financially. They don't have enough food, or even a roof over their head. What can you do to help? There are many useful and caring things you can do to help out.

Part 1

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Donating money

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1
Collect money. Not 20 dollars a day, just the change you find around your house. When you find money on the street and you don't know who it belongs to, collect and help save someone's life. Put it in a piggy bank or a jar and put it someplace safe. Donate that money to a local food pantry or a charity.
- Get your parent's permission to raise and donate money, if you're a child.
Make a regular donation to a charity of your choice from your own money. You can choose from people in need in your own area, through to people in need overseas.

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Food banks and other welfare sources often need food to feed people in need. Check the website for a list of needed items, to ensure that what you give is what is needed. Fresh food is often missing from such places, so check whether this is something that you can provide.^{[1]
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Part 2

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Giving your time

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Go to a nursing home, talk to the elderly, and put a smile on their faces. Or visit people in hospital or a hospice.^{[2]
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University of Rochester Medical Center
Leading academic medical center in the U.S. focused on clinical care and research

Go to source} Sharing time to interact with people will give you a feeling you will never forget.
Work at a soup kitchen or welfare kitchen for the needy. Try to allocate a regular time when you can turn up and help out.^{[3]
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If you're good at making things, give your time to create useful items.^{[4]
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Research source} This might be clothing, blankets, hats, food, etc. Do whatever it is is that you're good at and help out.

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Sharing compassion

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Sometimes people just feel like they need someone to care. Maybe they're confused and not sure what's going on just in the moment, or in a bigger picture such as where their lives are headed. The purpose of our lives is to love, laugh, be happy and to grow together, sharing with one another. If we are all too busy to notice someone who is in emotional need, it can leave the person wondering what's the real point of everything. By reaching out and smiling, showing compassion, listening, offering a word of gentle advice, you remind both yourself and the other what the bigger picture is, and bring a little burst of more light and happiness into the world. Enough of those bursts and lights contribute to the tipping point towards a more compassionate and joyful world.^{[5]
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Angelina Jolie, Actress & Humanitarian

Live empathetically and help others to the best of your ability "We have a responsibility to be aware of others. We need to make justice the norm, not the exception."

Part 4

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Helping Online for Free

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It is not always possible to donate a considerable amount of time or money to causes. However, there are methods online that are both free and easy which allow anyone with internet access to help.

1
Play FreeRice. This is a simple website where you answer questions to donate rice to people in need. They work through the UN World Food Programme. Every time you answer a question, ten grains of rice are donated. There are a variety of categories, including vocabulary and geography.
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Use click-to-give websites such as GreaterGood. When doing this, you want to be sure they are giving to good charities.
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Download the Tab for a Cause extension. This is an extension where every time you open a new blank tab, a customizable dashboard with a small ad comes up as your default new tab page. The advertisement money is then apportioned to charities based on percentages of user votes (one new tab is one vote.)

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Question

Where can you donate food?

Community Answer

Try your local food bank, homeless shelter, or soup kitchen. You can also see if your local Red Cross is accepting donations.

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How can I help a person who needs clothes?

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Contact Goodwill, Salvation Army or local churches. They can direct you in the best way to donate.

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I get so upset with myself when I'm in my car and a person of need comes up to my car and I don't have money to give them. Honestly l don't, and the look they give makes me feel terrible. How do I fix this?

Community Answer

Try to always have at least a little cash on hand, even if it's a spot in your car you keep loose change. Or just make sure to have food with you in the car to give them that.

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Tips

Keep a smile on your face, that means the world to people.

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Online forms of giving rely on advertisements displayed on your screen to procure the money they give. Having an adblocker active will interfere with their work. Depending on your adblocker, it may be possible to deactivate it for certain websites.

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Helping can be just about anything as long as it is done in sincerity. Even a simple smile, "hello," or compliment could lift someone's spirit!

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