The Giver is written by Ottawa Mag’s Dee Campbell, who knows that people prefer to volunteer in ways that speak to their interests. Dee has volunteered for the Terry Fox Run since she was a little girl and is a Brownie Leader of 15 years. Do you have a volun-gig needing filled? Email dcampbell@stjosephmedia.com.

Hug a Tree

This week, Ecology Ottawa planted the first of 1,000,000 trees to be planted as Ottawa’s gift to Canada for its 150th anniversary in 2017, and to restore Ottawa’s forest canopy. But these babies need some TLC, i.e. Ottawa residents to nurture young trees until they reach maturity. Once you’ve found a tree you would like to adopt on the map or app, you can update its profile to include its species, height, diameter, etc. You can even add pictures of your tree and include a comment about why this tree is important to you.

 

Curb Hunger With Your Cell Phone

Pause with me for a second. Try to remember a time when you were really hungry. Like, when you were doing a cleanse, or you forgot to bring food somewhere, or you were in first trimester pregnancy, or… Got it? Okay, now read this: 1 in 10 kids goes every day without breakfast. That’s a lot — especially since the last meal most kids would’ve eaten was probably dinner the night before. If you have $5 to spare, you can feed one kid breakfast for one week. Yup.

Text BREAKFAST to 45678 to donate $5 to Breakfast Clubs of Canada.

With a $5 donation, the Ottawa Food Bank can buy $25 worth of food. Text HUNGRY to 45678 to donate $5.

Text MEAL to 45678 to donate $10 to The Ottawa Mission Foundation.

And just to dispel any myths about texting donations:

1. Wireless operators do not take any portion of funds donated through text messages. They support mobile giving programs for free.

2. With the exception of the donation itself, you do not incur any text messaging fees associated with initiating and completing a text message donation. Talk about consumer friendly!

 

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and now, Giving Tuesday.

Qu’est-ce c’est? It’s a new Canadian movement for giving and volunteering, taking place each year after Cyber Monday. So just as Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season, Giving Tuesday marks the opening day of the giving season. How awesome is that?! 

Here’s an interesting volun-gig, in preparation for the day: Healthy Minds is looking for a creative and social media-savvy individual who is passionate about mental health and addictions to build their Giving Tuesday campaign. Read more here. Commitment: from now to December 2.