Charitable ways to Celebrate Valentine’s Day!

Hallmarks and Archies stores have made us-flock of single men and women-dream about pink dyed carnations to bring us our secret admirer only to be sitting back at home watching telly on Valentine's Day. If you are single or in a relationship, but have nowhere to go on Valentine’s Day, celebrate the true essence of it, which is ‘love’ (not just romantic love) with fellow beings. If you are stuck up at what to do for the deprived on the day everybody gets busy celebrating love, here is what you can:

Be a volunteer: there is no shortage in what you can do to help fellow human beings. You can volunteer at an animal shelter, a local soup kitchen, tutor a child, donate clothes etc. For volunteering opportunities, check out websites such as VolunteerMatch or DoSomething that help enthusiastic people to express care.

Raise funds: for all the times that you have emptied your pockets for a pricey dinner or party, how about doing it for a good cause? To raise funds, check out your city’s newspaper for Valentine-themed fundraisers, which support local NGOs.

Send love letters: love letters have always been popular among lovers, but you can celebrate this Valentine’s Day by sending them to people or organizations complimenting them about the efforts they have been putting in making the lives of people better.

Keep those, who serve you, in mind: say thank you to all those, who make your life easier each day such as the bus driver or the guy at barista. Leave the waiter an extra tip and smile at people throughout the day.

Adopt a stray pet for a day: bring in a stray pet home or volunteer at your local animal shelter and take the dogs for a walk. You can also adopt an endangered species through the World Wildlife Fund and get a lovable stuffed pet along with an adoption certificate from the organization in return.

Express with organic flowers: buy fresh organic flowers from the local farmer’s market or from a place that donates 10% of each purchase to charity.

Encourage charitable weddings: donate to charitable weddings or have yours organized by a body that sends a portion of the money you invest to charity. You can also create a charitable gift registry through the I Foundation and other non-profit bodies.

Indulge in small acts of kindness: February 14-20th is Random Acts of Kindness Week. You can pay for a stranger’s coffee, toll for the person behind you in line, send cards with joyful messages to strangers or babysit a friend’s child for free.

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