10 ways to give back this holiday season

The season of giving is upon us. You don’t have to break the bank to make a difference, and it only takes a few hours out of your week to offer help to thosein need. Fulfilling a long-termvolunteer role can be a positive way to start off the new year, but bettering your community can be as simple as walk around the neighborhood with a friend.

1. Clean up a park- fill a bag with trash you find while taking awalk through a park or your neighborhood. Bring a friend, some disposable gloves, a bag and make it a race to see whocan fill the bag the quickest.

2. Clean out your bookshelf anddonate your old books to a Little Free Library.

3. Help out at food gathers in the warehouse or in the kitchen.

4. Donate blood at the RedCross.

5. Volunteer at Arbor Hospice, where they are always look- ing for people to help run er- rands, play games and watch movies with patients, and en- courage patients to share their life stories through audio and video recordings.

6. Walk some dogs, pet some cats, and give a hand at the Humane Society of Huron Valley.

7. Easy as ABC, sign up to helptutor through Washtenaw Literacy.

8. Help out with after-school and art programs for local elementary school aged chil-dren through the CommunityAction Network.

9. Hold a baby in need of love at University of Michigan MottChildren’s Hospital Newborn Intensive Care Unit.

10. Care for and bond with cows,goats, sheep, cats and more at SASHA farm in Manchester, Michigan, the largest farm animal sanctuary in the midwest.