The holiday season is upon us, and whether you hang red ornaments on trees and bake ginger spiced cookies, tell stories of the maccabees and feast on latkes, discuss the seven principles of kwanzaa over dinner and create mkeka mats or simply enjoy a few days off from school or work, I believe few manage to escape the common rhetoric for the december holiday season; it’s a season for quality time and giving back to one’s community. I love strolling the snow powdered streets in the pitch black afternoon of Lund, cursing the stores that play a Mariah Carey song for the fifth time within a twenty minute span and trying to decipher what is a reasonable gift for a mother in law in a panique-esque manner as much as the next person, but factoring in the budget of an arbitrary student, along with the whole debacle with the climate crisis and how overconsumption ties in to that, I figured we could explore the concept of giving in a different fashion this season. Below follows an account of different ways to “give back” that are not mere financial donations, and that require varying levels of effort. 

FreeRice

You know that thing Adam Smith said, “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest”? The thing about self-interest in the end contributing to greater good? He could easily have been talking about this game. FreeRice is a web hosted game that constitutes part of the United Nations’ World Food Programme. In essence, you play a little trivia game, and for every answer you get right, they donate the equivalent of 10 grains of rice to aid a current humanitarian crisis. How does that work? Private sponsors are signed up to match the FreeRice game results with donations, automatically triggering payments from them to WFP when you play.  It’s really simple; you don’t need to register an account and can exit the game at any given moment, savoring the progress you’ve made, so the commitment is minimal. And the icing on the cake? As mentioned the game is trivia-based, and you can set the category and difficulty level yourself, so for anyone that is trying to squeeze in some extra practice in learning a language for their upcoming exchange semester, studying vocabulary or maths for högskoleprovet this spring, or is in need of some repetition in an economics course, you have just been given a golden opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. You’re welcome! 

Be My Eyes

I actually found out about this initiative in a conversation I overheard on a bus a while back, and decided I had to look into it. The basis of the concept is that you download their free app, and sign up as either someone visually impaired or a volunteer, choose the language you’re comfortable communicating in and await a notification. If you sign up as a volunteer, your responsibility is precisely what the name entails, you’re given the opportunity to be someone’s eyes, in a video call, when it is needed. On their website, the most common little missions are listed, including but not limited to reading product labels for someone, navigating TV or game menus, identifying and matching clothes when someone is trying to put together an outfit, picking out jewelry and operating vending machines. Once again, the commitment is minimal, you can choose to be notified when someone needs assistance in your chosen language, and simply go into the app and accept the call if you have the time and energy to. No costs, no upfront promises you’re not sure you’ll be able to keep, no additional learning requirements for you, just some solidary spirit and a couple of minutes of your time is all that’s needed. 

Charity Miles

Maybe this is solely an algorithm thing, but my social media has been loaded with people getting into running lately. I see marathon training programmes and colorful hookahs, electrolytes and playlists adapting the bpm to your running pace. A predominance of us also live in, or in close proximity to, Lund, a biking town of rank. And if you’re anything like me and have managed to let two years in Lund pass without getting a bike because you prefer walking everywhere, you’re still active on a regular basis. And that brings me to my point – because physical activity is all you need to generate donations with Charity Miles. Much like the FreeRice game, sponsors are registered via CharityMiles to support charities they are passionate about, and give fixed donation sums per mile of physical activity registered in the app. If you’re feeling ambitious, it’s possible to organize more extensive efforts too, getting entire teams of schools or work establishments involved, but at the core, it’s an initiative to promote public health for any individual and aid important charity work in one conjoined Christmas present. It doesn’t have to be too complicated; taking a walk to get sushi on a hungover sunday? register the steps. Taking a jog to your closest Systembolag when you realize it closes in 15 minutes? register the steps. Joining in on the LUSEM Tandem festivities? Register the miles. You get the idea.

Charity Shops

Let us set the scene. It is a Saturday afternoon, and you are getting ready for whatever venture you have planned for the rest of the day. Maybe you are having dinner at a friend’s, maybe you are going for a solitary walk with a good podcast in your ears. Either way, you are looking for your favourite sweater. And you find it in the back of a drawer, along with a lot of other things. A blue feather boa, a dolphin stuffed animal and a kitten ear headband, leftovers from theme-parties of the past. They are testaments of glorious evenings, now collecting dust and consuming high value closet space in your humble abode. Lund has multiple charity shops that are currently accepting donations, for example Amnesty’s Second Hand and Erikshjälpen in multiple locations. Allow the dolphin plushie to become a childs new favourite toy, your old jeans in a colour you have tired of since you bought them become part of someone’s new favourite outfit. Not only is it environmentally friendly and might spark joy with someone else, you’ll also get to play pretend being Santa for the day!

Whether you are swapping clutter for peace of mind or lending your time and energy to a good cause, please remember that giving does not need an accompanying receipt to count. Let this be your reminder, no matter what you are up to, or not up to, this holiday season, to embrace the holiday spirit separate from material objects and spending money. Instead let it be about kindness, connection and purpose – think outside the gift box.